Point Control and Slipping
by Thom Phan
Summary: Mercury finds himself at his 4th college, desperately trying to finish up with his degree so he can be rid of the academic world, and is forced to join a club. Fighting is all he knows, and he joins the closest thing he can find. There he meets a certain blonde who catches his eye in the strangest of ways. Rated T for cursing and heavily implied smut. Part of RWBY Meets Midsomer AU
1. A Second Look & A Safer Truth

The room was a dark hole on Beacons College campus. Shades pulled down for privacy and overhead lights that were never turned on, the only place consistently darker was photography clubs little hole in the wall. Even when the lone lamp was turned on, there wasn't much to show. One corner of the room was a half-organized closet full of vaguely identical outfits, a well-used toolbox, a cluttered desk, with only room for a temporarily absent laptop plus a requisite space for food. Two corners had beds, one with a tangled nest of sheets and the other barren except for the packed gym bag thrown on top. The last corner, aside from being the room's unofficial portcullis, was taken up by a rap shod rig made to support a punching bag. Once bright red, then turned blue by the tape holding it together, the bag was already fading in color once again just from regular usage. Just like the oddly placed tennis ball hanging from the ceiling.

A comfortable room, in a Spartan way, who took its' peace largely by lacking a human presence. A fact that changed as the door got opened by a hard shove from one ebony shoulder, a kick at the base, and obligatory curses at the lock's inevitable sticking.

"Merc, get up. We need to talk." But the room was silent to Emerald's plea. "Fuck."

Thankfully, her target didn't have too many places on campus that he regularly visited. The business department building, but he only went there for classes or to whine about the crowds. The gym, but he only went before breakfast or after dinner. Dining hall, but 3:20 was too weird for dinner even for him. Which left just one place for her to head to.

"Merc, get up. Mercury wake up." Her kicks ignored in favor of an obnoxiously loud snore. "Mercury Black, you idiot, get up. We both know you're awake and don't snore like that. So, get up, or so help me I'll drop my back pack on you. Not like brain damage will make anything worse."

The idiot in question opened his eyes finally, but made no move to get up from the bean bag chair. "Oh. Geez. Em, whenever did you get here." He said with the same amount of inflection one might have over an extremely bland, unbuttered piece of toast. "What's up?"

"I got a letter from the scholarship program, you'll have one too. They say we have to join a club or we won't meet the scholarship's social requirements. Club fair is today, we're going, we're signing up for something now."

"Whatever, I'm already in Judo club."

"Doesn't count. Judo is just you and that blind kid beating each other up couple times a week. School says you need to beat up at least 2 people and meet their safety standards."

"It's perfectly safe."

"No, you're both just idiots with a pain tolerance. Now come on or I'll drag your ass over there."

"Fine, fine." Mercury gave her a wave of reluctant acceptance and stood up so he could tower over Emerald. His chin just below the crest of her green bob cut. Grey eyes fixing on her red glares with a steady gaze that unnerved most people who met him. For an old 'friend' like Emerald, it told her he was serious when he added "Let's go."

Not that they had far to go. The club fair in question was right outside Mercury's last hiding place, the library. Where both silence and good Wi-Fi could be found at any college, outside of exam weeks. A fact he had test at his previous 3 colleges as well, and then quickly capitalized here at beacon after discovering his neighbors' perchance for loud music.

Opening the doors, the 2 of them couldn't help but stand out a little. Em tried to blend in with tank top to match her hair, dusty brown capris, and comfortable sandals, but she still was a transfer student with too much weariness in her eyes for the average student. Merc compounded this with a lanky 5'10" build that made him look like a giant to many. Plus while Emerald could hide behind a practiced smile, Mercury had two facial expressions; a smirk like he was ready to kick your ass any second and a neutral expression that showed intense focus, the kind that made his smirks 100% honest. Every step he took had too much balance, too much confidence, like everywhere he went he expected a fight to break out and he would be damned if he wasn't ready for exactly that. Throw in the fact that he wore fingerless gloves and what people swore were a real set of vambraces, meant that people tended to give him looks behind his back. If anything, he should be thanking Emerald for making him look normal. Or she should thank him for giving him four feet of clearance wherever he went.

Passing by Fox's table, he gave it a couple knocks to say hello, only for the guy to talk for once, surprisingly. "What would it take for you to help me recruit for the Judo club?"

"Fox, the only person worse at recruiting than you is me."

"Well I'd only pay up if it worked, so currently nothing to lose."

"Fine, your money, or time in this case. I'd want a favor, a good one."

"Deal. Any chance you could find someone who's actually good at this shit?"

"Now that's just impossible." Mercury turned away, perfectly aware that neither of them were in the club for small talk and that neither of them were good at it anyways. Emerald had already moved on, apparently, theatre club had something of interest to her. Which left him to find a club still, maybe pick up a favor in the process. No point in video game club because they always hog the controllers and whine about cheaters. Business club was for fake stock portfolios, which either meant losing or spending all day researching like a real class. Dance club would almost be funny, but people tended to think the worst of him without surrounding him with scantily clad girls. Nerf club could be fun with the right people, but given who tabled for them that seemed unlikely. So instead he did the obvious thing for a person with his temperament.

He was a simple man. He saw swords, he went over to see what's what.

"Ren, right?"

That made the one Asian guy turn around. "Yeah?"

"I got a bet going with Fox that I can get someone to join Judo. You said you did some Kung-Fu, right?"

"Tai-chi."

"It'll work. My dad had me train with some Tai-chi sifu for a while. Good stuff if you know what you're doing."

"This seems dangerous."

"We have a perfect safety record."

Ren gave a side long glance like he was thinking about it, but his answer had the tone of someone who had figured out his own loophole. "Sure, I'll join Judo if you join Fencing."

Well, Mercury had to admit to himself he was getting out of shape. Moving to Beacon had destroyed his old training regime. Plus, it was one thing to convince people he was unstoppable, it was another to be unstoppable in real life. Fencing would at least give him some more ways to keep up his training, maybe spend a little more time with weapon training. Something he usually avoided since people tended to relate him with more criminal versions of using them. Somewhat ironic considering his record. But all he had to do was show up every now and then, stay on a club members list for a year until he finally graduated. Easy enough. "Sign me up then."

"First meeting will be on Wednesday."

"All right then."

Mercury had already started walking when he noticed that two girls were gearing up. Away from the rest of the club tables, on a little grassy knoll where they could safely brandish two thin slivers of metal. Difficult to make out thanks to the sun in his eyes, the swords were practically invisible. All it took was for the taller girl to give her thigh a slap and both were moving.

Training back home, he could move fast. Ask him to move through a crowd and he could do it at close to full running speed. Tell him to maneuver around a mob drill and he could stay fluid enough that he made action movies look slow and un-choreographed. With fencing, it was like two freight trains. Both girls moving towards each other. Footwork that was practically the mirror of his own, but now it was forced into a linear plane. Contained into a line made it a torrent, two rivers pointed at each other for two slashes that were faster than almost anything. In his head, he remembered one of those top 10 lists, fun facts from the summer Olympics. The fastest single thing in the Olympics was the shooting event. Second fastest was in Sabre. Which he was pretty sure was what he was watching. Because he could slip punches for hours. Had slipped punches for hours in fact. The Sabre's were faster and that, that was almost scary.

The match was short, the result was unknown to him, and the oddest thing happened. Right at the end, when the two girls took off their masks they revealed a brunette with red highlights and youthful smile that made her look like a freshman, and a blonde whose grin seemed flushed from the match. Both conventionally attractive in their own respective ways, and both just as quickly ignored as any number of 'pretty' girls he had met at Shade, at Haven, even his short stint at Atlas.

Then he heard Blondie say something different. "Anyone up for another match?"

And dammit, he couldn't stop himself from taking a second look at her.

VAV

V

"Hey, where are you off to?"

Emerald was propped up on his rooms spare bed, the one that was supposed to be for the roommate he was never assigned. Instead it had unofficially, and with certain reluctance on his part, become her place whenever Cinder kicked her out of there room or she just wanted to hang out in one of the few room's on campus that never needed to be locked to deny entry to even the most curious of college students.

"Out."

"You don't go out." Emerald said with all the confidence of the facts being on her side.

"Course I do."

"Let me correct that. You only go outside when you want to walk while you do your brooding stranger act."

"Well, I have to. The clubs, remember.?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think you of all people would actually attend."

"I have to, otherwise I won't get on their member's list."

"Well that sucks. What did you end up signing on for?"

"Fencing."

"Pfffft". Her cheeks bulging as the picture of restraint she claimed to be. Well, try not to put any of them in the hospital."

Unfortunately, Mercury's only response to Emerald's shit-eating grin was to shrug and leave her there in his room. Making his way to a small corner of the gym where he found what could politely be called the eclectic group. Every school he had been to, high school and college, had at least one. The group of would be loners who banded together because they were willing to look past the little oddities and liked to think of themselves as 'inclusive Merry Men. He gave it two weeks before they pushed him out for being the resident psycho student. Again, kind of ironic, but it would still beat the old record. Barring that old exception of course.

"Mercury, didn't think you'd show up."

"I said I would." He responded, turning toward Ren only to catch himself almost tripping over a pair of crutches. "What the hell?"

"Sorry, still getting used to these. Broke my leg yesterday doing something stupid."

Mercury had a couple questions for a statement like that, but his indifference left most of them unsaid. "I take it you're not joining Judo then."

"Not this semester, but I'll probably be sending some people your way." Which translated to him not getting that favor from Fox, fuck.

"Hey guys, glad to see a good turnout." The Blondie had showed up wearing brown cargo shorts that weren't skinny and yet still seemed quite solid underneath, and an old t-shirt from some old zombie charity run that had the look of a few too many training sessions behind it. Followed by the short brunette in her shadow, with her face buried in an engineering textbook and the rest of her hidden by an outsized red hoodie. Both of their shoulders were occupied by long bags that clanked as they walked with the sound all to reminiscent of a bag of knives and other weapons. Also reason enough for him to also be reminded that whoever this girl was, she had a great ass for the bag to rest against. "For those of you who don't know me I'm the club president and Epee sword captain. Looks like we have some new people, so let's grab the gear and head over to the courts to get started. We can do introductions there."

The only other person with a fancy bag was the tall redhead amazon on the other side of the room, the rest digging through a packed club closet until Mercury was saddled with a white jacket, its sleeves too short of course; a mask, that never stopped getting in the way; and a trash can full of swords. To be fair, Ren tried to help with the last part, but Mercury was already resigned to not liking this and preferred to just throw it over his shoulder and start trudging towards the back of the gym. Because apparently, basketball courts were the closest thing this school had to real training areas.

Letting the can drop, and ignoring a sound that reminded him too keenly of past accidents, Mercury did his best to keep his face neutral as he turned to fix his eyes on Blondie for a second time. This time going for those lilac eyes and willing her to back down. She didn't wither away from his stare, just passed it over like his face was the exact same as all the other club members as she yelled out to the group. "Alright, we start with warmups. Five laps around, and then we'll do some stretches."

Fine by Mercury. He gave them a lap to see people's placement. Blondie and the Redhead took the lead easy enough, while the brunette he suspected was her sister hung out in the back with a blonde guy who looked like didn't eat enough of his Pumpkin Petes. Ren was off to the side, and the middle was dominated by a snob, a bookworm, and a ginger amazon wannabe who looked like she had come straight from some other sports practice. But the middle of the pack were not even beginners by his standards, and as soon as that second lap started he left them all behind. Not sprinting, but his jogging speed put trained runners to shame and they didn't have much of a chance.

Or at least they shouldn't have. Yet there was certainly one person doing their level best to keep up judging by the sound of feet slapping the pavement. And when that last lap started and he was sprinting for real, whoever they were sounded almost like they were catching up.

Turning that last bend, putting that full effort to make it back to the finish line left him with lungs burning hard. A sure reminder that he really did need to train more. It also gave him the chance to finally see who had kept up.

"Sorry, I'm Yang. Forgot to introduce myself."

The blondie was there, panting harder than him, but no doubt about it. She had to have been close behind him. And if anything, her grin seemed to be wider than when she had been just jogging. He'd have to lie if he said his interested wasn't piqued at that. Not too many people smile over losing. "Mercury."

"I've seen you around campus."

"It's the armor. Tends to make me stand out."

"Probably. Ever fenced before?"

"No, but I figure it can't be any harder than a real fight."

"I'd imagine not." It wasn't condescending, questioning, if anything it seemed like frank agreement. Again, something weird about her. She shot him one last grin before peeling away so that she could catch people as they finished the laps. "Drink water and circle up for stretches."

He learned a few other things that night. Epee stretch means to lie back, take a nap. The fencing stance was his usual fighting stance, except the back foot was kept ninety degrees in the other direction. Which made sense considering this was one of the few times he really couldn't use all eight limbs and didn't have anyone flanking him. The bladed stance made sense, but it didn't take long for a different issue to come up. With the white-haired snob keen to make sure that his shoulders were perfectly parallel with the lines on the basketball court, there wasn't a problem until the nerves in his legs flared up. The kind of pain that hurt more than getting punched in the head, or a knife in the hand. In fact, it was remarkably like the feeling of boiling grease covering his thigh from where the prosthetics never quite connected properly to one leg's nervous system.

Left him two choices. Either spend a year having to ignore high levels of plain. Which he could do no problem, if you ignored the added symptom of increased bloodlust that usually came with pointed ignorance. Or he could just switch his stance and fence left handed.

With the practice over, Mercury found himself carrying the trash can once more and mentally berating whoever said he'd need the jacket and mask that they hadn't worn all practice and were even now throwing off his balance. His only thought was that the night hadn't sucked completely. It wasn't the greatest of training physically, but 3 days a week, two hour practices, couldn't hurt. Couple of the club members were ok, couple were assholes, but nothing compared to him so he would deal with that. Keep the scholarship, keep relatively in shape, nothing to worry about. And he was content to leave it at that, until he noticed a pack leader lagging behind from her pack with a look in her eye pointed at him.

"So… what'd you think?"

"That my leg is acting up and I'm going to need to fence lefty if I keep coming."

She didn't look at his legs, which was people's usual reaction to something like that. Instead she just kept that grin on her face and her tone light hearted as always. "Still going to keep coming then?"

"I think so."

"Glad to hear that. Can I ask why?"

Mercury fixed her with another look, letting himself get a full picture of a woman who looked more comfortable with a sword on her back and face flushed from a bout than anywhere else in the world. One who kept up with him running, finished a match covered in sweat and then asked for one more, and even though he got the distinct impression she didn't like leading, none of that impression had slowed her down over these last 2 hours. Never the kind of guy who let others control his life or wasted time on what he saw as pointless romance, that didn't stop him tonight when he found himself instead staring at her with a touch to much fondness for his own comfort. He knew one answer he could give that would be true, the kind of truth that people told him was good until he said it and got suspended from school. Or, as a thoroughly trained liar, he knew the much safer half-truth. "I'm a little out of shape these days."

VAV

V

* **My only other big project was Bailey's and Coffee, Dark Bitter Brew having issues due to having a slow and finicky plot, and I like to think people enjoyed B &C for the same reason I did. It was simply a happy place for writer and reader to go to when the day got tiring. In that respect, this will be closer to B&C than DBB. However, it's also a fix fic of sort, meaning that characters will be OOC for reasons that have everything to do with someone who will likely never read this. Probably kick my ass if they did. ***

 ***Mercury, for reasons, is a more redeeming asshole. Yang is a 'fencer who's a woman' while her canon I would describe more as a 'woman who's a boxer'; and also doesn't have a prosthetic even though usually that's one of the regular details for this ship even in AUs; for other reasons. Reasons that include the fact she will never wear a dress and Mercury wears vambraces in the AU, despite making him stand out even more. Honestly, all the characters are screwy and no, I shouldn't be shoe-horning this into a RWBY fanfiction. But it feels good; and I like to think that at the end of the day everyone has a shot at happiness. ***


	2. Corps-à-corps

The darkened room was occupied for a while. It's owner standing in the middle of the room. Every muscle in his body being relaxed to an unnatural state as he bounced on the balls of his feet. A picture of leisure, were it not for the thick layer of sweat that slicked back his hair. Not enough to leave the ground. Just so that he could skate across the tile of his floor. So that he could sway, inches at most at a time. Just letting the tennis ball slip by his face as its arc came around. When it slowed, his hands moved away from his face. Darting out hard and fast for a clean straight punch. Sending the tennis ball away from him in a random arc, so that it could come back to him, and miss by a centimeter.

When he was younger, he remembered how the ball would hit. First few times were in the face. Then he got faster. Slipping once became too easy, and the number would increase. Twice around the ball, three times, four, even five on occasion. And then the hits were not just to the face, but also to the back of the head or maybe the temple if he was trying to spin away from the mock strike. There was also the, minor, detail that it didn't used to be a tennis ball.

Back and forth. Move forward, slip, slip. Step back, slip, slip, slip and turn. Repeat, repeat. When he was younger, more volatile, this would be when he played with his heart rate. Learn how settle down, relax, and then let it race. From perfect relaxation to the feeling of life or death, the will needed to fight to the bitter end. Course that was another thing that had changed. He didn't practice increasing blood pressure anymore. That would come in its own time and to be fair, he never had gotten the trick to go from full survival mode back down to anything close to normal. No, better to just let the heart do what it will, let the rate remain steady and his temper down.

Keep it steady, keep it calm. Maybe try not to get thrown out of another school and drag out this academic nightmare. He didn't keep track of the time, otherwise it was too easy to let the clock rule the workout. He did however have to catch his own thoughts on that part. This time he had somewhere he was supposed to be.

Mercury threw on the shirt, turned off the lamp, and let the door slam with its own characteristically loud nature. Back towards that little corner for those chipper Merry Men. And this time he wasn't sure what to expect. Because so far all he knew was that the group was weird, the sport felt a little too far from the real thing for his liking, and maybe their Robin Hood was a little interesting. That didn't change his obligations for this scholarship, so yeah. Here he was, again.

"Huh, looks like some of you came back." Her voice having just enough sarcasm to make her entrance funny, and just enough lacking to make it clear to even his blunt head that she was joking. Her grin making his own neutral expression very quickly changing into his second option: a smirk. "Well, let's not waste time. Grab some gear and we can head to the courts."

There was a rhythm to these meetings. Show up, gear up, warm up, then warm ups were paused for announcements. Kind of a dumb idea, considering that schedule gave him enough time for his muscles to cool down completely, but Yang seemed insistent on everyone knowing each other. Which is why how he learned that little red riding hood was named Ruby, the foil co-captains were Weis and Blake, and the sabre captain was Pyrrha. He'd probably forget them all by next week, but Marcus had known how two do things right. Teach his son how to fight, and how to respect authority. A great plan for keeping himself alive, really, worked great. But Mercury was still a mercenary at heart, and mercenaries needed the authority person if he was going to get paid. So at least for the captains, he was going to have to try to remember their names. And Ruby… was Yang's sister. Yang was club president, so remember the sister's name was just a little more effort to get in the boss's good graces. Nothing more.

After that was drills, and considering this was only the second meeting that meant what had to be a solid hour of movement drills and lunges. Go up the line, go down the line. Extend the arm, and then step into the lunge. Simple stuff, all the better to get back to basics on his own fighting. There was also a little demonstration on the different swords.

Foil had the smallest target area, and the most rules. Too much finesse, not enough instinct for his liking. Sabre had a larger target area, but the rules made no sense to him. Plus, he knew from personal experience how bad it was to go into a fight with no plan to back out. Which left Epee, full body target area and rules as simple as point and score. Two people hit, two people score. As long as he didn't act like a total ass, he didn't have to memorize dumb rules, which he was all in favor of. He also had a bit of a laugh when Ruby could be heard whining because the epee was also the heaviest of the blades. He owned knives that were heavier than these.

That little demonstration from club fair had led Mercury to here, staring down a basketball court's line to a black mask that he kept telling himself was just blackness and that he wouldn't be able to see the face of his opponent. Having watched Yang and little red do a couple practice bouts along with some of the other no name members. Then he had gotten dragged in. Yang pulling him over with a mad grin and what felt like everything short of bodily dragging him. Ok, it probably wasn't quite that bad, even if he found himself unable to say no either way. "Fine, I'll do a match."

"Great! Who do you want to face?"

He took a quick look at his options. Little red, who was clearly in the club for fun and wasn't that good as far as he had seen. A couple of no names who seemed like they'd be heading over to join the sabre team anyways. Or the captain of the team, and by far one of the best fencers in the club. "I'll fence you. Unless you mind, of course."

Yang didn't mind, if anything she seemed as eager to have a new opponent as he did. Already on the line, and giving him a salute with her well-loved sword that he was just as happy to match. Putting on both their masks, he took comfort behind the protective veil. Letting all the focus he put towards his face drop away immediately, redirecting towards that focus where it would be truly needed. This was a new sport, new skill set, and he still had every intention of winning.

Fixing his eyes down strip, he found his own believes were wrong about the face. Such a straight view made it easy for him to see past black wire mesh or the golden, burning heart branded onto its surface. All the way down to lilac eyes that were every bit as focused on him as he was on her. The fact that she had every intention of stabbing him doing nothing to change the focus he had directed at her.

On the side line Ruby was doing her best to pull off the commanding ref voice, to a rather squeaky and difficult to hear result. "En Garde, ready, fence!"

But both fencer and fighter were loaded at that point, and even the slightest of tremor was enough to send them both forward. Without training to guide him, Mercury was already relying on speed as far as tactics went. Speed and height meant that in terms of both movement and range he had the advantage. Even as Yang was darting in for what he was sure to be very fast and accurate strikes, Mercury battered past with a hard beat of his blade, and just kept moving forward. Yang's eyes going wide even as she tried to pull away. All the while Mercury kept moving, pressing in on her until both blades were well out of the way. When Yang finally stopped, her back foot planted like a rock at the end of the line where the fencing strip ended, he kept going until the bells of their swords pressed against each other and their chests could collide together where he could stand over her. Eyes still locked together, close enough that he could swear he could feel two heartbeats, with every instinct in his body urging him to either throw her to the ground or hug her even closer. Both passionate options he noticed having violent subtexts, and yes, more passionate ones as well. Those instincts growing and filling his body with either bloodlust or maybe even lust of the flesh. He couldn't tell at that point, and if those eyes agreed with him, neither did Yang.

"Halt! Corps-à-corps!" Ruby marching over so she could shove her hand between them, shooing him back a few paces in the process. A little funny, that the little sister seemed almost protective of the taller, stronger sister. "Center is here. Ready, fence!"

Still keyed up, Mercury didn't hesitate to charge in again, but this time Yang wasn't there. She had dropped down, impossibly low to the ground until her back leg was practically parallel and her butt what had to be less than four inches from the ground. From there sent her sword tip could come up. Halting him in his tracks in an instant.

"Halt! Point right. Reset."

Mercury looked down at her, his eyes trailing down the sword in her hand until it could settle on her face. He was in no hurry to reset, and with his own epee firmly clutched in his off hand, he offered out his right hand. Yang's grin was still there, and when she met his grip with a steady strength, Mercury didn't hesitate to haul her up with the kind of force he usually had to keep restrained from the eyes of his meeker classmates and teachers. The kind of force that usually sent someone flying unless they had both muscle control and a denser mass. "Nice point."

The match after that continued at a similar pace. He didn't have the training or tricks that Yang or her sister could pull out, and that left him very little to work with. But at the same time, something about his own style was throwing her off. Enough that her fourth point ended up as a simultaneous, and the match could end at a score of 5-1. Just in time for people to strip off the heavy jackets and start making their way back towards the gym and the club closet.

Grasping the trash can full of practice swords, he was all set to throw it over his shoulder, when he found its travel halted by a second grip.

"You don't have to carry this by yourself you know."

"It's what I'm used to though."

"If you want me to…"

"No, you're… fine." He said, not even sure how he would describe how he felt anyways.

"You came back after all."

"Yeah, well, still need the exercise."

"Thinking of keeping with the Epee team then?"

"Probably. I can't get my head around most of these rules, simpler is better."

"You're doing fine. It's only your first bout, no expects you to know much and you're already doing well considering we haven't taught you much."

Mercury's face twisted into a grimace, trying to fight off the one thing still nagging the corner of his mind over that last fight. The part that made the memory sour. "Yang?"

"Yeah?"

"Look, you didn't hold back during the bout, did you?"

"No, course I didn't. Which is why Ruby and I were so surprised you got the simul. You're doing good for a beginner. Style's a little weird, but you're reach kept surprising me. You kind of hunch over when you fight, so you don't look as talll, or something."

Mercury couldn't help himself at that thought, and with that his smirk fell back in to place. "Well then, I look forward to losing to you a bit more."

"Just a bit?"

"Oh, I'll kick your ass eventually. Don't worry."

"I'll be waiting."

VAV

V

You ever wanted a story to go a different way? This is definitely one of those stories, and most of it isn't even on paper yet.

When I started it, I said Yang wouldn't wear a dress. Let's just retcon, leave more things unsaid than I'd like, and get some more gauntlets and greaves going.


	3. All About That

\- - -3- - -

All About That

VAV

V

That first week of club, Yang introduced to the group the tradition of hanging out at the college coffee shop after practice. And Mercury didn't go. The second week, they went after all three practices. He at least gave an excuse the third time they invited him. Week three proved that it would follow in turn; and if the trend had stayed the same, Mercury would still have ignored this social tradition for week four as well. Only this time, he showed up on Monday to find the merry men numbered only five.

Four captains and a little sister who whined about her project getting putt off for the sake of tonight's practice. Throw in the psycho student and the fencing club totaled six whole members that night. Real high flying number, Mercury thought.

Considering he was the only rookie practice was just a quick warm up and a few bouts. Which at least gave him a chance to fight a more varied group. Blake was interest to fight since her style focused on misdirection, but that style broke down too quickly thanks to some feints of his own and an aggressive reputation. Weiss clearly had the best control and aim out of those preset, she just wasn't ready for the heavier blades or Mercury's parries hitting hard enough they really should be called beats. Pyrrha was the only one who was used to fencing as aggressive as his and as his last bout that night, she was quick to try and throw him off with her own quick assault and hard beats. Mercury did however have one counter that saber fencing had not prepared her for, alternating footwork styles quickly so that her linear assault would fall apart at the other end of his blade. A blade he left stretched out at full reach like a boar spear to stop her advance.

He still lost of course.

All three women had years of experience in this sport, seen tricks like this before, and unlike him were using their dominant hand so didn't have issues with aim. It was just a different taste in his mouth when he lost these bouts. The fact that he had scored six points between them not helping. A taste like he really would be able to beat them, and not on a 'one day' condition like with Yang. It felt like something that would be happening soon, before thanksgiving. When it did all three of them would say he's taller, stronger, of course he would win. Yang never said of course.

After practice, he was all set to peel away and head back to his room when Yang turned around from her place at the front of the pack. The lamp light catching her lilac eyes for a bright second. "Everyone coming to the coffee shop?"

Ruby beat him to the punch. She had quick reflexes for this kind of thing, more than she usually showed at practice he noted. "Sorry, I really got to go work on my project."

Weiss was right after her. "Game theory assigned a bunch of homework for tomorrow, I was planning to head back with Ruby."

Yang caught him with his mouth half open, ready to give his own excuse while silently giving the roommates grief over using the obvious one. "Blake? Pyrrha? Merc?"

The other two gave responses of acceptance easily enough, leaving Mercury alone under the gaze puppy dog eyes that he simultaneously realized were at odds with the badass picture he had of his epee captain. And also, that it was kind of cute the way she hugged her fencing bag as she asked him. "…Yeaahhh…sure."

Yang's face was back to that ever present grin in a second. "Great!" leaving Mercury to deny the fact that his first thought after excepting her offer had nothing to do with her figure or attractiveness. That would be normal, that would be not-psycho. It was really just that if worse came to worse, he could fight the three of them.

That fact didn't stop him from buying the most caffeinated tea at the shop, regardless of the time or the confused looks from people who didn't self-medicate mental issues with a readily available stimulant. Or from keeping it in a death grip as Yang and Pyrrha traded stories alongside Blake's wry commentary. Given his stories usually proved a little too dark, Mercury kept to his side of the table and just sipped his drink. Maybe proving a slight bias towards the blonde's stories in the process. Though that had more to do with some shared interests, kind of funny given the polarity.

"Ren said you were recruiting for Judo club at the fair."

Blake sat opposite to him at the table, legs crossed, and drinking one of those fruity drinks that were too fancy to be called juice. Frankly he wasn't sure if her attempt at conversation were an attempt at cruelty or kindness, especially with her face always seeming a little too poised for his liking. Which meant he would assume the safer option given his history, cruel. "The other guy in the club is trying to make it official. I was just helping."

"What is Judo anyways? I know it's Japanese, that's about it."

"It's…" Mercury had a second to decide whether or not he should explain the history of fighting in full plate maille, and the difference between pins and submissions. "It's like wrestling, but with gis so you can grab on to more stuff."

"Oh, we know all about wrestling." Yang threw in.

"What was that guy's name? Cardinal?"

"Cardin." Yang said.

All three girls were smiling, and if it was just Yang he'd assume it was something dirty. Maybe Blake too. At least one of Yang's friends would be a closet pervert, and definitely not Pyrrha. "Should I ask?"

Pyrrha was quick to throw her hands up, waving the other two off. Blake was more reluctant, still she tossed a bone to a far more eager Yang. "So, Freshman year, we had this one guy join the club. Big man, high school bully sort who needed to grow up. We never found out why he joined fencing, but we think he thought it'd be an easy win. His first practice he mentioned that he used to wrestle, which was why his stance was always off. Then it kind of became his thing, Cardin the wrestler. Said he won a bunch of trophies, yada yada. Two weeks later, he went into his first real bout. Saber, going against Pyrrha, and he's telling everyone he can that he had it in the bag. Secret plan, and everything. So, he gets out there, they start, and he goes in for a tackle of all things. Only Pyrrha here was already going for a low forward slash anyways, his aim was terrible so his blade went wide, and instead of whatever he planned he took a pommel strike to the head. Lost his first and only bout one and oh, then we had to send him to get checked for a concussion. Never saw him again."

Mercury nodded along, before asking the obvious question. "Was he any good as a wrestler?"

"We ran into one of his crew at a party, sophomore or junior year and did some snooping. Turns out he got banned for using eye gouges, so probably not."

Even Mercury had to chuckle at that point. Sure, he didn't know the guy. He did know the type, and the type was the kind of person it was always funny to watch when they inevitably screw up. He also stopped quickly enough when he noticed the three girls staring at him. "What?"

"It's just, we've never really seen you smile." Pyrrha said.

"I smile all the time."

"No, you smirk. There's a difference. You should do it more often." Yang was sitting back in her chair, giving him a funny look. Which did nothing to encourage him.

"It's a long story. Ok?"

"It's fine, we all have a few of those." Blake came to his defense easily enough, clearly in no mood to share a couple of hers. "Well, except Jaune, he just had sisters."

"That can't be that bad."

Blake and Pyrrha both shrugged, and that left Yang to shudder at the thought. "I still can't believe how many of you guys are only children."

Pyrrha gave the easy answer to that one. "It's a long story."

It was… casual. Three friends and him hanging out at the coffee shop for a late night, by non-college standards, just chatting and shooting the breeze. Kind of thing that he never did. Not entirely by choice mind you and, considering who he was, never really an option. Mercury was a scoundrel on his best of days, lied for a dime, and still the first one to admit that he was fucked up. It was certainly a puzzle for him to figure out. Something to worm around in his head as the left the shop and waved goodbye as their paths split. One he usually did a good job of ignoring. In this case, the worm was instead pulled to the front, in the kind of way that was both alarmingly normal and utterly unique in his experience.

"You guys go ahead," Yang said, waving Blake and Pyrrha on down the path. "Just have some club business to talk about with Mercury. Forms and shit." As her friends left, she turned to him and let a noticeably fake grin drop so she could fix a grimmer expression on him like she planned for a fight over something. Unlike the rest of the club, he seriously had to wonder if she meant for the fight to be physical as well.

"All right, what's up Blondie?"

"Don't be an ass, I'm serious here."

"Didn't know you could do that." He kept a smirk on his face

"Yeah, well your shirt rode up back at the shop. We need to talk."

"Like what you saw?" Mercury had a fair idea now what this was about, but the sight of her blushing for a quick second softened that blow.

"Two things. One, that long story of yours. I think we both know it's going to be a dark one, and more than a little violent. Whatever reason you got, you seem to be trying to keep things 'good'. For lack of a better word. Keep it that way, keep this club as a safe place, and we can be friends. Stop doing that, and I go straight to the top. Deal."

"Deal," The fact she already knew to keep an eye on him didn't make negotiations realistic anyways. He worked fine when people thought he was just a regular loner, or later when they realized who his dad was. "and two?"

"Your phone number?"

"Hm?"

"We hang out outside club events, a few of the seniors go drinking together and occasionally other stuff, you know. I just thought maybe you might want to tag along some time."

Right that second, especially given that first ultimatum, he really just wanted to say the first answer that came to his mind. He didn't drink, didn't do stuff, and made sure to keep his contact information private. Emerald didn't even get it their first year together at college. Yeah, he was paranoid. He also had a couple good fucking reason. Marcus Black was dead, he'd made sure of that. His lessons however had been stressed enough that Mercury expected they'd stay with him a while. Which most days, was more than reason enough. This wasn't most days. "Fuck it."

"What?"

Fishing through his pockets for a scrap piece of paper, he handed over the numbers and didn't stay to second guess himself.

VAV

V

Two big things. Yes, I did retcon in Yang's prosthetic. And yes, I posted this to AO3 earlier in the week and it didn't make it on here because I forgot.

The problem with this ship that I see is that neither of them are looking for a relationship. Needless to say, this makes things more difficult. Each AU must instead find something to connect them together more permanently than they would instinctively allow. The reason I like glitteringeva's stories so much is that each one has that connection, recognizes the good/bad that comes with them, and the great that can come.

But this is me, and my violent asshole occasionally just says fuck it. My fuck it plans work annoyingly often, especially given how often they've almost gotten me kill in real life.


	4. Thin Steel Beams

\- - -4- - -

Thin Steel Beams

VAV

V

The scrap of paper was still in the pocket of her fencing bag nearly a week later. Wrinkled and dirtied after she had grabbed it, thrown it in and left as quickly as possible, turning away so she didn't have a chance to second guess herself.

It really was for club she reminded herself. She already had all the regulars and numbers for people like Velvet before she went overseas, who never fenced a day in her life and still fun to hang out with. Meaning it was only practical to ask Mercury for his number. Only by the same logic it meant she hadn't really needed to hold him back on the walk home. Could have just brought it up while at the shop. Tell a story from their last trip to the bar, add something like 'yeah, we have a fun time. Beer and pizza deal if you want to come.' 'Oh, you want to know when. Here just give us a number, we'll give you a call next time.' Be all casual about and the manners alone could deal with the pressure and leave her unembarrassed. Assuming Merc had manners. Bit of a long shot there, he always seemed to just go along with what she asked, wearing an expression like he expected it to fail and really was just there to watch when it did.

She wouldn't mind really, if he wasn't also kind of hot. Totally not her type though. Definitely not, Yang liked people who were more demure, suave. A little mysterious didn't hurt either. Ok, to be fair, he did have the mystery part down pat. As far as the student body was concerned, Mercury might as well be a poster. Everyone saw him at some point or another, his armor made sure of that if his resting bitch face didn't, but no one talked to him enough to get even rumors started.

Fox knew him, of course. Because apparently loners with anger issues gravitate towards the same gym mats. But the guy was also useless when it came to gossip. They shared an entrepreneurship class, and Fox got him to join his new club sometime after she said she couldn't; Blake and Weiss were already harping on her about leaving enough time for homework. That's it. They had two weeks of meetings before club fair even happened, and that was all Fox knew. It was like they got together just so they didn't have to talk, they could just fight each other.

Usually this was the kind of problem she solved rather easily. Just walk up, ask, mystery solved. But texting him out of the blue sounded desperate. And every time they were at practice together, she would spot her chance only for him to turn and smirk at her. Like he knew something she didn't, or expected her to blush because he was, maybe, a little bit handsome.

Annoyed at her own indecision more than anything, Yang finally gave up on thinking it through. She worked off instinct and instinct did right by her. Next time she caught him smirking, she let her own grin match him. "You're up Mercury."

"Oh? Who am I bouting against?"

She made a little bit of a show of looking through the other epeeist, before picking up her mask and sword bearing her burning heart brand. "I guess you can face me. Want to make things a little more interesting this time?"

"Hm?"

"Truth or Dare, one for each point."

"You still have quite a bit more experience than me."

"I won't count chest shots." Maybe she was bit too quick to answer, especially with that particular handicap, but she enjoyed challenges. Bouts were rarely fun without something to keep things interesting; heads were difficult because of the masks slope and the epee's curve, wrists had protection from the bell or were on the wrong side of the body, and toe shots were her favorite. They required quite a bit of point control and flexibility on her part, but the looks on their faces, worth it. Still, her handicap didn't have quite the positive impact she was hoping for in their negotiations judging by his face. Not that this plan was guaranteed to work, Mercury seemed stubborn enough to just do all five dares and damn the consequences rather than tell her anything. On the other hand, the way she caught his eyes were looking at her while she warmed up, he might just risk it. One of the few things she knew about him was he liked her ass. That and for a beginner he had always scored at least one point against her, and call it hypocritical but she planned to give him a dare as well.

Despite his look of wariness, Yang got her nod. "Fine by me then."

Taking up his place on the other side of the strip, they saluted and put on their masks before dropping into a fighting stance. Her own a little more stretched out than most. Mercury's was more… feral looking? It was hard to describe. He had a habit of hunching his shoulders forward, which she was starting to realize hid his height a little. Plus, he never stayed as bladed in his stance as a fencer should. Back foot pointing more towards her than they should, shoulders were practically perpendicular to her own, and he insisted on leaving his right hand up like he was boxer covering his face. She would know after all.

"En garde, ready, fence."

Both of them were quick off the mark this time. Mercury still lacked beadwork, but compensating nicely with his footwork worked against most of the other fencers. Most. Yang knew better than to let him build momentum. Quick step and then falling into a deep lunge so she could get enough range. Mercury parried her lunge, only problem was his back step to create distance still wasn't used to the meter of steel. Too far back and Yang had room to bring her back leg up. Leaving her in an awkward squat for a brief moment. Long enough for Mercury to test her defenses and for her to keep him away with a quick circle parry, beat combination. Turning it into redouble, Yang rose up from the squat and into a solid lunge that found Mercury's left shoulder, the one he kept shrugged forward to sneak in some range, but here it just proved open to her strike. His defenses for his off side still needed work.

"So, Dare or Truth?"

"Dare."

Of course he would say that. "You sure about that?"

"Trust me, there's nothing you can do to scare me."

Just for a second, she would be lying if she didn't at least consider a few other options after that, only she still had a longer game here. "Okay, pull out your phone."

Mercury gave her a skeptical look, before grabbing it from his pocket anyways. "Heads up, you might not want to carry it in your side pocket at practice. Jaune lost one phone screen that way. Alright, set your phone for a… let's say eight minute timer, repeating. Every eight minutes you're going to do max reps, no stopping, pushups followed immediately by mountain climbers/"

"When do I stop then?"

"Three reps after we part ways. Oh, and you're starting now."

His gaze stayed on her as he tucked his phone in his back pocket, and dropped his sword and mask. Thirty two pushes and twice that many mountain climbers later he was back up. Ready to fight and with a smirk that told her to expect her own inevitable fate would be interesting enough.

The second round started and Mercury was already learning. He was playing for space, trying to give himself room for a proper rush. Arm extended and near constant circle parries. It wasn't bad as a delaying tact given his height. Only real problem was Yang knew how to stop his false starts, plus all the rookies went through this phase.

"Yang! Circle parry 6, flèche to the toe!"

"Yes, thank you Ruby."

Mercury hadn't been distracted by the talking, doing a neat circle parry eight and four combo to deflect a disengage and riposte. "Do I want to know?"

"It's a secret technique, don't ask."

He nodded, finally giving Yang her chance. The slight opening was enough to make room for a feint to the same shoulder. Let him go for his usual defense and then take the wrist touch instead.

"Truth or Dare this time."

"Dare."

"You sure? My dad's a coach, you keep this up I can guarantee you won't be able to walk tomorrow."

"Wouldn't be the first time." His words were more bitter than she expected, but Mercury made no move to change his vote. "Dare I can always just blame you if something goes wrong."

"How noble. Well…" He cut her off with a finger before dropping down for his earlier dare. Clearly enjoying Yang's self-inflicted interruption, after which he was back standing with a grin like he hadn't just shut her up. "…You know what, this time, why don't you go over to my bag."

"What for?"

"Resistance bands. Grab the two red ones from the larger side pocket. We'll slow you down the old-fashioned way."

Mercury paused for a second, clearly considering his options. "You fight dirty."

"Here, I thought you'd like that kind of thing."

"It was a compliment." He was already walking away by that point. That was when she started to question if a compliment from him was actually a good thing. The way he smirked when he looked up from tying the bands on, told her it probably wasn't. Followed by how he almost sauntered back onto the strip with that same confidence he always had, told her she really didn't care as much as she should.

Third round and she was ready all sorts of tricks. Given her opponent's strength, the option of him simply jumping over to her was very real. Stupid, didn't make it real. If he knew how to flèche, the bands wouldn't do anything to stop him from trying it. The fact he would then fall on his face, probably not quite the deterrent it was supposed to be. Or he could take the actually sane option, and use a bit more blade work, a bit more technique and he'd still do just fine. He definitely had a talent for this kind of thing, just lacked experience in the sport. With the pushups to tire him out and the bands to limit movement, he really would have to rely on technique this time.

"En garde, ready, fence."

She was ready for a lot of things. Not for Mercury's face to go blank. Not his usual, asshole resting face. This one was a solid death mask as soon as the words left the ref's mouth, and then he was gone. Tearing down the strip at her. Faster than she had ever seen him move, like the bands were never there. She didn't even think about it. Other training taking over for a split second as she tried to check him with a hard jab to his face.

And the bastard slipped it.

His head moved and he kept going into her range. He was a crappy infighter, but he kept them so tight together that neither could bring their blades to bear for even that. She knew better than to retreat though, and tried to keep things where they were. But as soon as she made it clear she wasn't going to budge, he nodded and spun around. Long enough for her to really wonder if he was going for a back elbow right before he came out behind her. Halting the match on a rule technicality she was surprised he even knew about, and wondering if he really had planned on just attacking from back there.

"Halt, no point, center is here. En garde, ready, fence."

He didn't slow his pace, and with her not giving ground, they were back into infighting in less than a second, and again Mercury just passed around her. Next time the only real difference came when she caught as he tried to slip past, he instead took the corps-à-corps and let them restart again. Her chest protector feeling uncomfortably pressed when he came in, mostly in the fact that she was wearing it at all.

His face was still stuck in that death mask of his though and for all the sweat he was showing, he didn't seem to be slowing. Even as he paused to knock out a set of his pushups and mountain climbers. Impressive, but that was enough.

This time she started the bout low. He usually compensated for this tactic by following her down. With his ankles tied that wasn't an option. Mercury kept his feet nimble enough, and even if he wasn't used to parries this low he managed well enough. Then she went for the toe touch. And he couldn't stop her.

It wasn't her best shot ever. She had aimed for when he moved forward, a higher target than what she got, and it wasn't center line on the leg. Still, it was straight enough that it should have landed on the meat of his shin.

It didn't.

Clear against the pant leg so it could flap in the wind like a flag, while her sword continued between his legs. She may not be as book smart as her flatmates, but this was something she understood all to intimately. Mercury's face was already twisted into something different as her realization hit, no coldness at all down in his heart. There was something there that was old and painful as he stepped forward. His movements weren't fencing this time, this was some other instinct taking over as he clamped two steel beams around her wrist, literal steel beams. Twisting hard until her epee was out of her hand and on the ground. Leaving her defenseless before the ref could call halt as he whipped his blade over for his point.

Offering her his hand, Mercury pulled her up with an iron grip and arms that still didn't seem tired by either their bout or her dare. Whatever burned under that cold surface was buried deep, and burned as hot as anything she had ever felt herself.

"Heard you like the Winter Soldier movie, more of a Kingsman guy myself. Truth or Dare, Blondie?"

For a second she really considered truth. Let one of them acknowledge that they had some things they should talk about, that on a campus of thousand students they were the two missing something like this, but she was scared. Scared of things that still made her hand shake in darker moments. "…Dare."

There masks were practically touching, and he didn't even have to whisper. His voice just stayed as a deep rumble rolling into her, and she alone heard. "I dare you to never ask me the question."

Yang nodded and they went back to the match in silence. Mercury's form was even sloppier now than ever. He was clearly in the best shape of anyone she had ever met, almost on par with her back in her days before the accident. That didn't make him less human. They had a simul after that, but he opted to save his second dare and her mind wasn't into the side game anymore. Choosing more classic dares over anything to push him towards choosing truth. So the only real upside to the evening was that she now knew for a fact that Mercury was ripped, and utterly shameless when it came to traumatizing the other club members.

VAV

V

You know, I really wondered here. Because if someone was trying to really push me in my fencing training, I would target my endurance like I had Yang do so I could work more on point control. Needless to say, the couple times they tried worked about as well as they did here. But if this AU's Yang had me in a truth or dare, I feel like I would have ended up half naked.

So, I'm pretty sure Merc gave Jaune a lap dance. Except, everyone who knows me also knows I defend my personal space quite violently. You'll just have to fanon my headcanon.


	5. Oddly Placed Tennis Ball

\- - -5- - -

Oddly Placed Tennis Ball

VAV

V

"Damn that snowflake." Mercury said, even as he knocked on the door. There wasn't any mailbox or slot for him to drop off the medical waivers, and the club treasurer slash secretary had insisted he needed to drop them off today. Otherwise the school couldn't let him participate.

That was a fun little goose chase in its own right, finding a doctor who could take him in last minute for a physical wasn't fun. And then Fox had told him that he needed a copy since Judo Club would need waivers if it was really going to work. All of that when he was supposed to be studying for an exam for a class today. Now all he wanted to do was sleep and instead he was across campus, debating whether or not to break in or just ram the damn thing through the door crack. Regardless of the thick rubber down there that would probably make the forms unusable. Meaning break in or knock, and only a certain level of respect for some people from that flat, plus his own desire to not get thrown out of the school, had him knock first before he went for his tools.

"One second!" Somewhere back behind that darkened curtain, someone was stumbling around in the dark. There was enough muffling he couldn't have told you who, up until he heard a very loud "Fuck." Followed by what sounded distinctly of someone kicking over a small table, plus a half-hearted effort to put it back afterwards.

At that point, he wasn't surprised when Yang finally opened the door. The flat was dark except for a sitting room all the way in the back, and even in the gloom he could make out the trail of destruction she had made to get to him. The table's collection of mail in particular, now that it was all over the floor.

"Uh… hi?"

"Hey. The snowflake said I had to drop of the medical waiver tonight."

"Right sorry. Come in, I think she has some list she wants you to sign for this."

The RWBY flat had the kind of lived in mess that always felt missing in movies. It had the little touches of character that you expected; grease spots and neat binders for homework mixed easily with stacks of romance novels and gym bags; just here they were blended together familial until only an experienced observer could tell the owners apart. Mercury had that experience, but never from anywhere personal, only in harsh lessons about how to judge targets. Being here in the middle of it all just made him more the outcast, more isolated as he crossed the threshold. A family was something he would never be able to relate to.

Until he looked back at Yang as she rubbed at a connector, where the skin was inevitably red from too much rubbing. Usually a detail that was hidden by jackets and shirts, this time it was laid bare as her hand idly massaged the t-shirt sleeve. Clothes that were worn and casual, weren't designed to hide a metal arm. A glance towards an open drawer and the rubble leading to and from it, gave Mercury the sneaking suspicion it was never supposed to.

"Weiss always gets a little strict when it comes to stuff like this. Like, I know I could just make a checkmark, but she says she needs signatures because their official documents. I mean, yeah, but for a school club; not the same thing as what she's talking about."

"It's fine." He said, more to cover up his own tenseness than anything.

She was already leaving the dining room and heading down the hall towards the lit sitting room in the back. Giving him the distinct impression he was supposed to follow. Fine, he was used to the gloom.

Then he hit his head on the oddly placed tennis ball hanging in the middle of the hallway.

"Sorry, I'm usually better about taking it down." Yang had poked her head back in to find him holding the ball, lost in thought. "It's a good way to practice point control if you want to train on your own."

He juggled the ball one handed for a second, debating if he should even be talking right now, until his mind settled. His stance relaxing just enough so that he could give the ball a push and then let it come back as he swayed around its path. "Yeah, I could guess."

She had this look on her face. No surprise, more like she was judging him. His speed, his posture as he moved. A more analytical look than the carefree one he was used to. "Never did ask. What is your background? Cause it's not fencing, and it's sure as hell not any Judo."

"Just call it Savate, like the Apaches; and I adding a little Capoeira when I went to my first college. And what about you?"

"Fencing."

"Fencers don't hold themselves like you do."

For a second, she tensed. Her right hand was in a fist, her left arm was coming forward to cover her live side. Then a deep breath settled her enough for an answer. "I used to box, won a few medals. But Weiss introduced me to fencing since I can't really go around punching people with a metal fist these days. It's fun, and less dangerous."

"Should have asked, competitions I did never cared before or after the operation."

The two fighters just stared after that. There was a lot of answers in there, for both of them. Yang had her prosthetic a much shorter time than he had first realized, which also explained why she let the skin get that raw in the first place. And perhaps why she always tried so hard to keep up with him physically if she was still recovering. As for the answers he might have given her, it was nothing he tried too hard to hide. Hell, the vambraces should be clue enough.

"Stop staring."

"I'm just waiting for you to find this list you keep mentioning."

"Well, I can't do that if you keep staring."

"Do you have something else you'd like me to look at then?" He let his eyes pan across the room behind her. A well-loved couch, an old Tv probably scavenged from some relative's house, the bookcase in the corner packed with as many dvds as it was books, the coffee table covered with what looks like a project for some education class she was taking; then his eyes settled back onto her. A fact they both seemed comfortable enough with, in a way that was deeply unsettling for a loner and a woman who usually was center of attention under drastically different circumstances, mostly involving a few drinks.

Yang finally made the first move, reaching behind the door frame for a piece of paper. "Found it." She said, even as neither of them moved away from the other as he took it from her hand. Their skin brushing against each other with too much warmth, too little accident. He turned away, almost reluctantly, to sign it against the wall and Yang squeezed past him in the narrow hall. Mercury didn't know why.

Then she gripped the tennis ball in her left hand, and gave it a push.

Nothing hard; just enough to start it going. With a deep breath out, one that seemed like it was years coming, she fell into her stance and started to move. It was awkward at first, slipping away shakily so that her balance was off when she tried to re-center. Then another breath was let out. Deeper than the first, and with it come soul and rhythm. The tennis ball faltered as its momentum died away and she pushed it harder than before. Without a trace of breaking as old habits died harder than any trauma, and another push came with the force of a punch, a champion's punch.

Mercury was already done signing, but Yang was between him and the door. Which was exactly the excuse he would make it one of her friends walked in. Though if he didn't stop staring, he'd have to find something better to say when Yang noticed the extra attention. Then his eyes saw what he needed.

"Hey blondie, think fast."

Yang face was set in concentration, but her rhythm didn't even falter as she weaved under the tennis ball. Suppressing the twitch in her shoulder for the counter that came with it, she instead faced him with eyes that looked every bit as fierce as she was. A fact he was even now learning had much fewer boundaries than most people were truly comfortable with. For all her fire that could temper steel, he didn't know if anyone would ever be able to stand against the cold and feral soul that lay within the fire's coals once that was let loose.

Their eye's locking into place, he fell into his lunge. A half meter of foam blade running its way toward her face, as he hand deflected it with old instincts. She didn't hesitate to move forward, fighting to tie up his blade in close quarters, with a jab that he blocked in turn on the foam of his hilt. Recovering meant moving back farther into the room, and Yang followed even as he kept up his striking with the blade. Then she moved forward, and for second Mercury expected the boxer to try and tackle him, only for her to recover the other foam sword that had been on the ground.

"This feels more fair." She said, her concentration breaking into a grin.

"Not sure I agree with the sentiment." Was the only response he could come up with as Yang flicked her blade so its foam could spark against his vambraces.

It wasn't fencing, and it wasn't boxing anymore. Both were definitely fighting with a goal in the back of their mind, but for the life of him he had no idea what that was. The sitting room soon became like the set of Princess Bride, as much a statement of ego in the way they attacked as anything else. Mercury not hesitating to send a kick at Yang chest, even as she scurried over the coffee table and her homework to clear him away.

"Don't do it Anakin, I have the high ground." She said, having set herself up on the couch with an almost mocking tone as her ally.

"That was a bullshit fight scene, and you know it." Mercury said, even as he dove in. Deflecting her blade so that he could come up under her heroic pose. Without even considering how much damage this would do, he grabbed her leg firmly with his free hand and lifted. Not much, but a single leg tackle only need about a half inch to send the other person off balance.

There was no dignity in the mess that fell together onto the couch cushions. Swords hitting each other and what sounded suspiciously like a lamp, while limbs tangled together. The blades quickly abandoned as both tried awkwardly to use what little experience with ground-fighting they had to take control.

"Scared, Xiao Long?" Mercury whispered into her ear.

Yang stopped her own attempt at setting up a armbar as turned to look at Mercury. The fight in her leaving rapidly with a sense of humor left in its place. "Are you paraphrasing Draco."

"I watch a lot of pirated movies."

Yang shrugged, still not moving from her place on top of his chest with an arm firmly trapped between her legs. "What kind?"

"Anything with a half-decent action scene really. Em made me watch that one cause she had a crush on a character, you?"

"Usually I let other people pick. Too many years trying to avoid a crying younger sister I guess."

"What's your go to then?"

"Probably Princess Bride these days, I think everyone who fences wants to buckle some swashes. What about you?"

"Kung-fu Killer, starring Donnie Yen, 2015; great choreographies, simple plot, and it's where I learned that disarm I used on you."

"A really stellar review there, Black."

"I have a system, that system involves great choreographies, plot I don't have to pay attention to. And maybe hot chicks who can actually fight." The last part slipping out with a loose tongue that always seemed to come with the oddest of personal secrets.

"Oh really?" Yang said.

"…No."

"I thought you'd be a better liar."

They both started to move after that, the feeling of being stuck in a corner too strongly stuck with them over just a few words, Mercury tearing his arm out of her grip as he rolled them over. Yang wasn't far behind, freeing her legs so she could wrap them around him. Pausing for less than a second, he wasn't sure which instinct was calling him now. After all, neither of them had a true fight or flight instincts.

Yang answered for him. When she brought him down to her level and their lips met with a passion. What little part of his mind stayed rational after that was devoted to the question as to whether they were fighting or fucking.

VAV

"Hey Merc."

Emerald was in his spare bed, again, typing away on her computer. "Don't you ever stay in your own room?"

"Cinder…" hasn't been the same since then, was left unspoken. Leaving her two followers, friends, whatever they were to her, to live in the time between. Something they both were rather bad at the more he thought about it. "Anyways, why are you back so late?"

"Went for a walk, ran into a girl, we fucked. Had my fun and I left."

Em looked up from her computer, proving once again her knack for seeing through him a little too easily for his liking.

"What?"

"You don't do one-night stands."

"Course I do. I just don't tell you about them."

"Uh-huh." Her eyes just darted down to his pant and boots, the same kind he wore year-round.

"It's easy enough to hide if you don't take much off."

Mercury was content to let that be the end of it, already grabbing stuff to hit the shower when he paused his work. Just for a moment, so he could move the tennis ball out of the way for the night.

VAV

"What are you watching?"

Yang looked up from her homework as Blake came into the room, making room for her on the couch as her friend sat down. "It's some kung-fu flick a guy recommended to me."

Blake reached over for her book. "Didn't know you liked these kinds of movies."

"I don't know, it seemed like fun idea at the time. Doubt I'll watch many more though."

"Always good to try new things I guess." Blake looked around the room for a second, a puzzled look on her face. "You do something to the room? It feels different."

"…Training."

"I thought you'd be a better liar, Yang."

VAV

V

At some point, I'll also add the punchline to the oddly placed tennis ball, but that can't come until later. A lot later, which is good news because that's in part thanks to 6 being written, 7&8 well and started.

Having Yang and Merc fall into something together has been difficult due to my own inability to be flirtatious, but I kind of like the medium that they seem to be going towards dialogue-wise. More a mix of shop-talk and casual-danger dialogue that's honestly feels natural for them.


	6. Arced Paths

\- - -6- - -

Arced Paths

VAV

V

Yang hadn't planned on their next encounter. She had other problems. Including the fact that her prosthetic was acting up. Too much time doing her homework on her laptop with poor posture and wrists angled awkwardly. Usually she could just hand the thing over to Ruby and her sister would have everything fixed perfectly in minutes. Not this weekend, Ruby had gone on some field trip with her department. Leaving her poor older sister alone to deal with the problem. Not like Yang had ever disassembled her entire motorcycle as part of a prank, because her high school never proved it. Course, her toolbox was for her bike. Even her smallest ratchet bit was too big for something as fine detail as her arm.

Ruby had her own kit, almost twice the size of hers, but it was full of odds and ends. Anything her baby sis had bought special for an old project. Such as a star hex screwdriver bit she had needed for her super-roomba, and that got banned from the flat after it ate one of Weiss' shoes and almost kneecapped Blake. All of the odds and ends thrown into one general place without any regard for order. It had the stuff she needed of course, assuming she could find it. The easier option, by a distance, was to just walk over to the school bike shop and borrow their tools.

All it took was a smile, a flirty tone for the receptionist, and she was in. Not technically allowed, but Midsomer University was a relaxed campus about most things. That was more the Midsomer way, a quiet country side until the next murder threw everything into a huff. End of the day, people came here to learn not to brag about their parents, she mused to herself. Anyway, the Xiao Long name was really only big for the boxing types; Rose, to an even smaller community. Actually, now that she thought about it, more people probably knew the Branwen orphans than the rest of her extended family put together. And that wasn't really a good thing.

"Hey Blondie, never seen you here before. Didn't think you'd be the biking type."

Mercury was tucked away in the back corner of the shop, where the lights were blocked by the racked bikes enough they lacked any fluorescent glare. A bicycle was flipped over up on the table as he eyeballed the wheels alignments and sent the wheel's spinning. As he talked, he never stopped moving around the bike. Checking tires, tightening the brakes, and greasing gears as he made his laps around.

"Not these kinds of bikes, no. Some of us have the need. The need for speed."

That made him pause for just a second to look over her way with a raised eyebrow.

"What?"

"I don't meet many other real bikers on college campuses, usually just one or two of us. Just surprised I already found the other one."

"Huh."

"Since I don't see any parts, and people don't come back here for my company, what can I do you for?"

"I have some other mechanical problems. Nothing big, just a quick tune-up." Her face always grimaced a little when she held up the arm for this part. Even with Mercury, even with a jacket that hid most of her arm. The funny part was that it wasn't even some desire to hide the thing, just reflex from every time the nerves played up in places they shouldn't.

"Yeah, I can fix that. Give me one-second here."

Yang almost answered that she could do it herself. It wasn't that bad to do one handed as long as she didn't have to field strip the damn thing. Only, this was the most chatty she'd ever seen Mercury without quite a bit pressing on her part or. "Sure, thanks. So… bike shop?"

"Need some way to pay for gas, and basically everything else. All the other idiots who apply here are so dumb they can't even use a damn socket wrench. A little finagling with the books and I can knock out twenty plus hours on the weekend, and then weekdays I only do an hour or so here and there."

"Your boss okay with that? Cause I'm pretty sure that's illegal."

"Pretty sure given the idiots I work with, he's just happy anything actually gets fixed."

"Can't fault that."

Lifting the bike up onto the rack, Mercury finally pulled himself out of his dark corner in favor of the table Yang was sitting at. He grabbed a stool and dragged it over so he could take a seat next to her. Not bothering to apologize when his knee hit her leg, or when he took her hand and pushed back her sleeve so he could hold it up to the light and start his examination. His face was set in that neutral expression of his as he started turning it around. Without a word to her about what he planned, Mercury reached into the table's drawer to pull a key ring of allen wrenches.

"My wrist's acting up…"

"Yeah I know. You winced a little when it bent. I'm going to remove the cover-plates, but if it's feeding back to you, that means there's something up with the wiring."

"I thought it'd be the joint."

"Our joints don't feel pain. Just the limbs they're attached to."

There it was again. He never just came out and said it. Alway had to go around the subject. People on college campuses didn't just happen to know how to fix prosthetics. Make movie references about villains with missing limbs, and they sure as hell didn't say 'our joints' when holding Yang von Berlichingen's hand.

This time her thoughts were interrupted by another pain in her arm. "Watch it there. The point is to fix it."

"Damn."

"What is it?"

"You wore through the rubber coating on two of the nerve wires. Bending the wrist is pushing them close enough for them to arc and send feedback up the arm."

"Why the damn then?"

"I don't think I can fix this without taking off the arm because of how they mounted the wires. Basically need to take them out entirely just to fix them."

She'd take the unspoken sorry, even if it made no sense. "Oh, that's fine. Ruby always takes it off for tune-ups. That way I'm not distracting her while she's tinkering."

Mercury looked up from his work and for the first time that day, looked her in the eye. His face set with eyebrow cocked and mouth just enough agape as to really put incredulous somewhere outside of one Blake's class assignments. Hell, the eyebrow was completely lost beneath his bangs.

"What?"

"The last guy who tried to take off my legs almost pressed charges afterwards."

"Oh? Anyone ever tell you that you don't need to always jump to the violent options?"

"Ever consider people who jump there usually have a good reason for that instinct?"

"What's your big reason then?"

"Do you want to lose Truth or Dare that quickly?"

"Man, you need to learn how to lighten up. "

"I'm plenty light," Merc said, "part of a cutting edge dieting program." Tapping her arm against his thighs with an unmistakable clunk and that same damn grin. "Anyway, this is probably going to take a while. I understand if you don't want to leave it…"

"I thought it'd just be a quick tune-up. Is there something else?"

"Well, the tune-up is really just a new plastic coating for the wires, but I'm also going to rewire this now while I already have it pulled apart. Way they're currently put in, everything gets shook loose when it jars, from fencing or whatever, and that's when they rub together. So I have to put in some spacers to act as shock absorbers. Plus, I still have bike orders that need to be done if I want my paycheck."

A part of her wasn't moving, happy enough to sit here and chat with him. Let him work, she could sit back out of his way and chat with him. The other part of her had homework, dinner at some point, and then tonight the RWBY flat already had their plans to go to the pub.

"Yeah, that's fine." Yang said, and left. Leaving Mercury alone in the silent workshop, with nothing but his work to distract him now.

V

For all of ten minutes until Yang was back, now with a book bag slung over one shoulder. "I'm claiming this table."

"For what?" His head freeing itself from the dark corner with what almost looked like surprise.

"Homework. You didn't think I'd leave Ember Celia all alone, did you."

Mercury's smirk shifted away from just one of usual smug superiority into something close to a real smile, as he immediately moved over to claim half the table. A particularly ruined and rusted set of gears and his tools. "You named your arm. What are you, eight?"

"Like you don't name yours."

"Sure, here's hay foot and wheat foot. My motorcycle is named Ducati, and this is ratchet the wrench with his buddy: file."

"Shut up. It's cool, and so is Bumblebee."

"What?"

"My bike."

Mercury snorted with laughter just as the crumpled paper hit him in the eye. "Fuck, really?"

"Quite your whining. You've done a whole lot worse."

"Well, yeah, but I'm a jackass." Which earned him a second one to the chest, sent while Yang opened up her laptop to start doing her own work. Letting the banter continue at an oddly comfortable pace for someone she trained with regularly and had a one night stand, at least one of which would at least suggest some sort of awkwardness. He might stay there for hours to come, she was content to keep the hour they had together.

VAV

The workshop was quiet that late at night. The guy who usually worked the desk this time apparently not bothering to come to the office to get high and get paid for it. Leaving Mercury in his own comfort zone: him, his work, and a clear objective. Take the bike, make it run, rack the bike, and grab the next one. It was the kind of simplistic thinking that his dad had always stressed when it came to work. Always quick to say that going beyond that made you distracted; and in the family business, distracted made you dead.

He often wondered if his dad had died distracted or just out-numbered. Bastard deserved both.

Racking one more bike, he stole only a second to check the time. Even the boss had a hard time letting him do more than twelve hours a day, and he was getting close to that time limit. Enough time he do one last brake change, or he could take a call on his cell.

"What?" Unfortunately, most of his side jobs wouldn't just leave texts or messages, otherwise he could just ignore these. The only good news was that, said employers also didn't expect him to be overly polite.

"Its Yang. I'm outside, let me in."

Mercury didn't say anything else after that, snapping his old phone shut with that comforting click abandoned by modern technology. Unlocking the deadbolt, he opened the door to find Yang there as promised. No longer in the comfortable old cargos, tank top and jacket that he was used to seeing her in, Yang had clearly dressed up for something. A tan double-breasted jacket hid her arms while teasing at the little black dress she had underneath, where your eyes couldn't help but be drawn to an enticing neckline and a dress hem that rose a little too high above the more stylized black stockings. Which he also noted were probably one of the few practical considerations with her outfit given the weather lately, aside from only the faintest hint of makeup.

He still said nothing, not out of some numbskull attraction mind you. Yang was hot, but he had seen plenty of girls dressed up for nicer parties, and trashier ones for that matter. It was just that after two hours of not talking, and chatting was hard habit to break into in his experience. Not that she seemed to mind his silence or the fact he wasn't being subtle in his gaze storming in as soon as the building was unlocked and marching straight to the table they had been using earlier that day. Usually, attitude like that, he would assume she was angry with him, but the mostly full box of pizza she had passed him, still fresh judging by the warmth, said otherwise.

"Look, I just spent the last three and a half hours on Double-D duty. So, whatever else you got, I just want to say I'm really frustrated with just about everything right this second."

"Why'd you come here then?"

Yang got a hold of his jacket, and he had just enough foresight to set the pizza down before she dragged him over. "Why the fuck do you think?" With her face inches away from his own, he could see the frustration in her eyes with perfect clarity. Just like he could see how her pupils were dilating, and smell her minted breath such that he couldn't find any excuse to hold back.

"Fine by me." Lips crashed together in tandem and jackets thrown away. Ideally onto the stools, but with the amount of force they threw each other's away, the most they could hope for was that they didn't break anything.

The only pause came as Mercury's teeth dug into her neck, and she managed to force out a few more sensible words. "If anyone asks, you forgot a screw for Ember."

"Only because you rushed me."

VAV

They didn't have much time to talk afterwards. It was late at night. Mercury needed to actually eat something. Yang still had her friends to worry about, and unlike him a school life that had to continue the next day. So instead of words, they just got dressed in silence. Yang somewhat abashedly putting back all the tools and parts that she had knocked down moments earlier, her counterpart merely kicking them out of the way.

Closest he got to being at all empathetic was when he offered a slice from the pizza she had brought him, even as he wolfed down the rest.

"No thanks, I brought it to pay you back for the arm. And stole a slice on the way here."

"You know most people just put in a work order. School already pays me to fix stuff as it is."

"So if I need help next time…"

"Depends on the kind, but I think we can work something out."

The fact he was saying that while shirtless and staring at her ass while she bent over to check under the table for missing underwear, and possibly snuck a glance of her own at the mutual catch; seemed to answer for both of them what they were agreeing to here. Simple contract between two people, and nothing more.

"Don't worry about the arm. I figure I owe you for teaching me all the damn rules for fencing."

"I'm captain for fun, don't worry about that. You're ten times better than most numbskulls I get." Yang chuckled as she finally finished finding everything and Merc zipped up his jacket. "Looks like we're both paying for free services here."

"Well, usually I charge people for the sex, but I guess today can be on the house."

"Asshole."

"Worth it." He said, locking the door behind them as they left the blackened building.

"Maybe."

VAV

V

Not going to lie, I wasn't happy with the previous chapter and I think readers would agree. The G&G ship is one that I think most fans would agree is intensely physical, but it wasn't originally drafted as sexual. Then shit happened, and the draft got thrown out and with it my outline. Which means things got sloppy, and at some point, I'm going to have to go back and fix Chapter 5 once I know better what the chapter should be.

The part I don't like about this chapter was that it could easily look like Yang is wimpier. Her wrist acting up, going to get it fixed instead of just toughing it out, and having Mercury even able to see that discomfort. On the other hand, as a guy who has had to deal with his own condition, I'm also just as happy to say you're wrong without going into my horror stories.

Finished with 8, still working on 7, but hopefully will have something out shortly. If I can catch a break, I also want to finish a B&C chapter that's half-written.


	7. Obligatory Tournament Arc, Part 1

\- - -7- - -

Obligatory Tournament Arc, Part 1

VAV

V

"You know how some people have a resting bitch-face? Yours is more like a resting-murder face."

"Thanks."

"Like, it's not that your mad all the time, just that you're about to go homicidal and fight everyone at once all kung-fu like."

"No, really, thanks."

Mercury tried his best to ignore Nora as she chatted, well aware that this was the kind of conversation that went south quickly and not in his favor. His only real defense being to not say anything, or come up with some elaborate lie. But with only him and Ren awake, it wasn't like she had too many targets for her incessant need to talk. Ren apparently had enough experience that he could deflect her with a word or two, but Mercury just had his 'resting-murder' face and ample sarcasm as his defense.

Trying to find something better, he cast his eyes around the van. Jaune and Pyrrha was sharing the front bench with him, only the latter had folded herself neatly into the corner shortly after they packed at the crack of dawn this morning and fell promptly asleep with what must have been the experience of many road trips in her youth. Jaune on the other hand had talked loudly for the first half hour before sprawling asleep so that Mercury had to, more delicately than he cared for, move the offending arm off his legs lest the rock in question woke up.

Behind him, the RWBY flat had crammed themselves into three seatbelt with less legality than he would expect from such do-gooders, but clearly found comfortable enough. Yang in the middle, holding her little sister in her arms like a giant teddy bear while Weiss had drifted off on her shoulder. All of them dead to the world, and Weiss drooling in her sleep while Ruby mumbled something to herself in a weird, half-asleep whistling way. Blake somehow maintained her dignity, having taken the door side right behind him so that she could put her feet up on their laps. Previously propping herself up for reading, that had eventually left her as fast asleep as her friends. A dog pile that had left him with at least an after thought that Yang must make a good pillow.

"…Anyways, the real trick is to know which school's to watch out for. Most of the big schools have actual instructors and get really competitive…"

There was Nora, still droning on relentlessly. At least now her focus was away from him, leaving him free to pull out his phone as it buzzed in his pocket with a new message.

[Nervous?]

He looked around at the sender. Yang's arms freed from around her sister and friend, so she could send him the text. Clearly she was enjoying watching his lack of patience with their driver that morning. [Never.] He sent in response.

"Pre-emptive Victory Lap!" Nora cried, yelling with way more energy than any college student should have this early in the morning while putting the van through it's paces as she went around the traffic circle at top speed. The car's passengers waking up with strangled yelps from a half-dozen people that were just short of a startled scream from Nora's choice in wake-up calls "Another one for luck!"

Shoving Jaune's flailing form off of him, Mercury reconsidered his own answer. [You owe me blondie.]

VAV

Regionals for fencing were being hosted over four hours away this year, and Mercury had gotten dragged into it with little care of his own opinion on the matter. Namely that the last time he had ben in a competition, his dad had been doing his best karate kid bully impression outside the cage and those instincts died hard. Only Emerald had signed him up for it, saying it looked good on his resume to be more social, then Weiss had come along and said that he had to go because the club already paid his entrance fee. Ruby had literally dragged him back while begging because Yang wanted the Epee team to win this year and he needed to fill out their three man team. Which would have been easy to throw off, literally, except said sister would also have murdered him in his sleep.

Then Yang had actually won the fight in the end, sicking Ren on him at five o'clock this morning. The one guy who knew enough to bring his girlfriend so he couldn't go back to sleep thanks to the noise, plus a taser so he couldn't just hit the alarm clocks and turn them off.

Which meant, regardless of his own opinions, he got to sit in the car for four hours with a madwoman at the wheel, to go and not-fight about a hundred strangers. Needless to say he wasn't in a good mood going in.

Then the tournament began, and he couldn't hold back his smile.

It wasn't fighting, but there was a thrill here as he plunged his sword into the opponents. For all it's rules, the competition itself remained simple and followed the maxim he had trained for all his life: kill them before they kill you.

With a harsh flick of the epee he sent his opponents blade out of the way as she tested his reach. More force than necessary, but she was slight and he knew the mental battle was already against her. Sometimes a simple show of force did more than most would admit. He could already see the desperation in her eyes, and when she tried to sneak in on his offside he didn't have to even try as he went for a stop hit. Straight to the live shoulder with enough force that she was spent spinning away. Almost knocking her clear off the side of the strip as the judge called out "Halt! Point left."

His helmet was off, and his face was contorted unnaturally as he shook her hand. Twisting it upside down so she wouldn't have to stumble over that bit of confusion. He even managed to add a "Nice job," as she walked back over to her coach. Only when he saw the way Yang looked as she grabbed her mask and walk by him did he realize what it was. A smile that was glued to his face that wasn't just some feral force of its own, this was the kind of thing that told him that for once he wasn't fighting for his life; just fighting for fun, enjoying the challenge, and not much else.

There was also something in her smile that had his eyes glued to Yang's ass as she took her place on the strip. He knew as soon as her mask was on, he knew her grin was going wild beneath it. She lacked his merciless nature on the strip, but made up for it with an almost instinctive cleverness he couldn't stop watching. Speaking from experience, it took years to turn tactics into instincts and that's what she had. Instincts to know the range of the blades, where her opponent was covering, and the timing to make one strike deadly; all the while her footwork kept her moving, and a rather noteworthy flexibility let her stay low or use all 5'10" to her full advantage.

Also, fencing pants were extremely tight fitting.

Tearing his eyes away from that sight brought him to the real problem if they were going to meet Yang's goal. Ruby Fucking Rose.

Oh, he still remembered the first time he saw her train, trailing at the back of the pack with Jaune. He had been right when he realized she was just a casual fencer, never putting the kind of heart her sister did into the sport. What he hadn't known at the time was that she had set the track team's only time-record in the last 6 years, and broken it again last year for the sixty meter event. Then, she got into fencing and started parrying blades literally inches from her face without even realizing how impressive that was for trained fighter like him to actually watch.

The real problem was that they still couldn't get her to parry, And Then Riposte. Meaning she spent half her time just sitting there, parrying like a demon and waiting for the lucky shot to get through. No one having told her that for normal human beings, the average was about 80:20 for an experienced fighter to parry strikes in a fight. That was combined with a stamina that was low for even a sprinter, and meant it was really a question of whether or not they could stop her from collapsing.

The team score stayed solid, mostly because of Yang. She was dominating her matches, with an average of 5-2 going on 5-1, and even for his first tourney Mercury wasn't doing too bad. Only winning about half the time, he managed to keep in the running thanks in large part to reach, lefty stance and a less than polite style. So his average was something like a 4-5, with plenty of simultaneous points to keep anything from dropping. Given that math, it really meant that Ruby just needed to keep up with him to keep them in the running. Only problem was her stamina was already shot. Yang's bout had a three minute time limit, add time for start stops, and subtract Yang's early win, that gave Mercury about seven minutes of… sigh… pep talk.

"You doing okay there Red?"

Ruby tried her best to play it cool, flicking her bangs out of the way like Yang would, only for the sweat logged strands to fall back in her eye. "Yeah! Yeah. Why, anything wrong?"

"No…" He tried, he really tried, if nothing else for his own sake if Yang ever came after him, to come up with something positive to say. "You've been doing…You just look…" Then the fuck-it plan came back. "Really tired. Like you ran a marathon or something."

"I do?"

"Yeah, just utterly wiped."

"No, I'm, I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeaahhh, I got this."

"Because we can always ask one of the foil or sabers to spot you for a bit. Let you take a break while they cover for you."

"No, nope, nahhhh, I got this." Ruby was looking at him with just a little bit of her sister's fire in her eyes. Standing up for her bout with only a trace of unbalance, then bending back down abashedly after she forgot her mask and sword. "They're already mostly beaten."

"Mostly?"

"Totally; totally beaten."

If this failed, Yang would kill him. If not, fifty/fifty.

Ruby got on strip and immediately started fumbling between the wires, her sword, and her mask. Only putting up the feeblest of arguments as Yang dropped her gear and plugged her in. Mercury was already plotting his escape route at that point.

Then Ruby dropped into her stance, and for the first time that he could recall, she seemed do it naturally. No unusual tenseness or fidgeting to try and settle in; she made it look like she was supposed to be there. The referee called for them to start, and with that her opponent was after her. Down the strip with what almost felt like a parody of his own style, matched alongside the gangly body of some kid. It was hardly the ideal match up for someone her height, and Ruby was forced to parry, retreat and repeat, just to keep up her distance. Less than twenty-seconds into the match, and her back foot hit the gym floor on the wrong side of the strip border. All the guy had to do was either force her off the strip or land a hit and he would get first point of the match.

Which is why Ruby parried his first lunge.

And the second.

At this point the guy was so close, his footwork didn't need to move. It should have just been reach out and touch for arms as long as his, and Ruby parried two of those touches. At that range, the speed for what she was pulling off was incredible, but it was still too defensive. Something had to give.

Or Ruby could just fight a little different.

"Circle parry 6, Flèche to the Toe!" Yang called out. Ruby didn't seem to respond, even as her opponent tilted his head to figure out what Yang was thinking, instead she just took one step forward. Then the range was set. His arms cramped up between them, and his footwork not used to retreating, all it took was a single lunge and she was past his reach, past his guard, and straight through his heart.

"Halt, point left. Reset."

VAV

He honestly thought the hallway in the basement was abandoned when he first found it. Half the lights were off and with school's gym closed to public for the tournament, seemed like a safe bet. THat's why he had come down here, somewhere quiet so he could let his tenseness fade away while the saber team finished after a day of fighting to build his nerves. It was a good plan up until someone slammed him into the water fountain alcove, leaving him dazed from the dented drywall.

He didn't care who or why, Mercury was already turning into them with a hook and every intention of laying them flat. Even as his leg was kicked out from under him and his momentum twisted about, he was responding with his second hook for a kidney strike from his position kneeling on the ground. That strike got jammed up as whoever it was grabbed his head a pulled him for a kiss so rough it might as well be called head-butt.

There was a short list of people who could pull that stunt on him and he wouldn't kill outright, only the flash of unmistakable blonde limiting him as he ignored the kiss and tackled Yang to the ground. A quick jab to the abs as payback for the head trauma gave her the opportunity to wrap him up in a triangle choke. Which, if this was training, would probably mean her win. But fuck that.

Planting both legs, Mercury lifted Yang into the air. Ignoring the choke with a stubbornness that saved his life so many times in his youth, that it was easy to ignore Fox and everyone else's chiding about it being unsafe in training.

"Wow, you're tall."

"Only a couple inches taller than you."

Yang paused her almost childish surveyal of the hall and looked down at the floor with a face that clearly disagreed. "How tall are you?"

"Six foot."

"Yeah, I'm only five-eight."

"Huh, you stand tall for someone your size."

"Yeah, well, you hunch too much."

"True. Are we done here?"

"That depends. Mess with Ruby like that again, you're head goes through the wall." Yang's voice made of molten steel.

"Fine. Promise I won't help her win us the tournament ever again."

"Or any other bullying."

"Or any other bullying."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Yang let her legs unlock from around his neck as she was lowered to the ground. Staring him down with eyes that clearly didn't trust him. That was fair, he only trusted her as far as he could throw her.

About a room's length and nothing more.

"Anything else we should clear up while we're at each other's throats?"

"I'm not at your throat, If I was, one of us would be dead. Probably you." He did glance down at her feet for a second as a thought struck him. "What happened to your shoes."

"I had flip-flops for after the tourney, but I kicked them off after I saw you and got mad."

"Fair enough."

That was it, the debate over with and lines made clear with a bluntness he had to admit was both rare and reassuring. More familiar to him than most social conventions if nothing else. Both of them seemed content enough to make their way back to Yang's discarded footwear and ignore their fresh bruises. Pausing as Yang toed them on, Mercury took one long look at her old t-shirt, the pair of basketball shorts that she wore, and the skin that still rippled with every movement she made. Then he did his best to ignore the part of his mind that told him she couldn't be wearing much else given how the clothes clung to her. "You know, we're basically alone down here."

"Yeah, but who knows when saber will be over..." Yang responded immediately. Catching herself on the last syllable at the fact they were both thinking the same thing. Then shrugging it off with equal ease. "We'll just say I lectured you about team etiquette. The bathroom back there had a lock, probably clean to."

"We have such high standards in our partnership." Laughing even as they both stopped to turn around and walk back the way they had come.

She stopped in the doorway, almost as an after that. One hand on the doorframe, and her body curving around it in a way that was both alluring and hesitant. "Mercury, I'm not sure what I'd call us."

He stopped his hand even as it reached out towards her, holding back the desire that had brought them here. "Honestly, neither do I. People are complicated."

"Can't argue with that."

Mercury's hand altered course, peeling away the hand that rested against the door frame. "Call it what you want. I'm happy enough to follow for now."

"… Then, for now, training partners?"

"Fine by me."

VAV

V

when I first outlined the story, Yang was a different character entirely. Ruby was not, and was based on a girl I trained with, who I'm changing very little of here. RL-Ruby would be pretty proud actually.  
RL-Nora would be somewhat pissed that I made her girlfriends into Ren, but thankfully she doesn't read fanfiction.


	8. Obligatory Tournament Arc, Part 2

\- - -8- - -

Obligatory Tournament Arc, Part 2

VAV

V

The car ride home was dark and quiet as Ren drove the second half for the night. A far cry from when Nora was at the wheel, energy was high even when still waking up, and the car laughed/screamed as she did her pre-emptive victory laps around the traffic circle. They didn't have far to go. At such a late hour, there hadn't been too many options. Stumbling out from the competition to a nearby pub for some sandwiches and then back on the road. But the trip was far, and instead they'd be making a stop for the night so they could finish tomorrow. The Nikos house was on the way, mostly, and her parents had agreed to put them up for the night.

Piling out of the car, the merry men didn't even bother to touch most of their bags. Some toiletries and a change of clothes so they could collapse on whatever corner they found. It wasn't even a small house by any standards, but they had crammed nine people into an eight-seat van with some loose interpretation of seatbelt laws. It was a tight fit.

"You going to be all right there? Mercury?"

Her dad had found him tucked into a corner of the basement on the old reclining couch outside the family's little workshop, the old TV in front of him, and most importantly the only entrances being the staircase on his left and the cellar door that was on the opposite side of the room. But with the lights off everywhere except for in the staircase, he was left obscured in the shadows. If Mr. Nikos had just turned off the lights to his workshop before leaving instead of after, they wouldn't even be talking. "Yes, sir."

"We have blankets upstairs if you want. It gets pretty cold down here this late in the season."

"I'll be fine."

Mr. Nikos gave him one last look and a halfhearted "Suit yourself," before heading back upstairs.

He would do that. Even though right this second, he couldn't figure out how to recline the damn thing, and eventually gave up and just let his head fall over onto the arm rest. No, it wasn't the most comfortable, but it worked. He'd definitely had worse places to sleep.

"Are you really going to sleep like that?"

Mercury didn't need to look up to know Yang was staring down at him, hands on hips as she failed to stop her big sister instincts from showing through one last time that night. "Probably."

"How is that even comfortable?"

"Years and years of practice, and plenty of stretching."

That seemed enough for Yang, her instincts dying down as she threw herself onto the couch's other half. For a second he expected her to turn on the TV, maybe put on some replay of a game, and then they could just bicker about whether or not to leave it on. Instead Yang proved her knack for throwing him off once again as she leaned her head against him. Resting it in the crook of his back as her mane of hair draped down to tease away at his elbow.

"Ruby and Weiss are sharing the guest room." Yang said, more to herself than her disinterested audience. "Blake is sharing Pyrrha's room with her and Nora; but since Jaune got the couch in the living room, I expect Nora's going to be moving downstairs with Ren. I figure fifty percent chance Jaune is either traumatized or sleeps like a rock right through it all." None of which Mercury cared about until she added the last part to that thought. "And I said I'd grab some blankets, kip out on the pool table down here." To which he had several responses.

Sarcastic would be easy, he'd heard enough of her stories to trust this wouldn't be her first time sleeping on top of one. Flirtatious was practically a free-be given her joke about Jaune. But easy didn't feel quite right. Neither of them were the kind who took easy options, otherwise they wouldn't be here. Then Yang made his decision easier with one last quiet phrase. "I don't want to sleep on the table."

Still without any response from his lips, Mercury turned around and took her in his arms. Her head pressed against his chest where neither of them would be able to look the other in the eye when Yang kicked the couch into it's recline, which also explained where the recliner's stick shift was. With her arms now around his waist she seemed content to stay there with him, silent as a lamb even as Mercury dragged the couch's throw over their legs.

"I thought we agreed this was a bad idea." Yang said.

"We're just sleeping through the cold; nothing more."

For both their sakes, words like hug or cuddle were left unsaid. At the same time, the embrace remained chaste. Their legs getting in each other's way left hips arched away, leaving both of them perfectly aware that neither would be getting off like this. Which to Mercury at least was a damn-sight scarier than being found fucking her in a friend's house. It would be shallow, fun, and the only thing lost would be a night's sleep after they kicked them out, this on the other hand spoke too closely of intimacy. Something he knew better than to have, and judging by the tension in Yang's shoulders that was almost as tight as his own, she appeared to agree with that sentiment.

"If someone comes down…"

"I'll say you stole some beers, and got drunk and clingy all of the sudden."

Yang just chuckled at how quick he was throwing her under the bus there, her warm breath cutting through his shirt like a shine of summer in the late autumn night. With that both of their tension bled away. Leaving them free to pull each other closer, Mercury's back flat against the couch, tucked into the corner where the stairs light wouldn't reach him and Yang pulled over to lay across him, more a blanket than any throw cover that might lay haphazardly around their waists.

There they just drifted. Not fully into slumber, the day's events not enough to send them fast asleep like their companions, just enough to doze in a state where conscious thought was discarded in favor of stillness, heartbeats falling into rhythm with each other, and a buzz that was gentler than any drink, just at the thought of a night filled like this. One night of safety, maybe the world could give him that one little gift.

V

"Yang, you gotta help me. It's Nora…"

The woman in question hauled herself away from him with more than a trace of reluctance as she responded to Jaune's cries. "What is it?"

"Nora! I think she's mugging Ren."

"Course she is." Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Yang started dragging herself upstairs. Jaune a few steps behind as he glanced over towards the couch, where he could just barely make out the two eyes that glared out through the dark at him with a murderous intent.

"I didn't know the Nikos has a dog."

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, a dog. Definitely. He's just a little shy."

She didn't acknowledge Merc as she dragged Jaune back upstairs, and with the excuses already made, he was left with nothing to do by lay back and pretend he was ok. The pressure from when Yang had pushed off his chest to head upstairs never really leaving him. Instead he was left alone to wish he could go back to being insane and save himself the trouble of a moment that was just a little too real; and in the aftermath of a quiet moment, just a little too painful.

Mercury didn't ask for permission or even look at who was in the living room as he grabbed the vans keys off the kitchen table and went outside. Only bothering to say anything at all so he could stop anyone else from asking. "The pool table is too hard. I'm sleeping in the van." And that was it. He was free to sleep somewhere that wasn't too comfortable and let him live without any of his doubts.

That ended as soon as he looked around and realized just where they were.

"What are you looking at?"

Mercury didn't need to turn to know Yang had followed him outside, leaving his eyes fixed miles away. She was too interested, for her own good, in secrets that were better buried, and he didn't know how to turn her away. "Aren't you cold?"

"It's not that bad. Growing up on the isles, I'm used to the cold."

"Just realized where we are, that's all."

"I forget you're not from Midsomer." She said. That part he could handle. It kept the emotional distance they had agreed on, even if her words came were followed by her wrapping her arms around him. Her cold hands finding a home in his jacket pockets. What he couldn't handle was the way her tone softened with her next words. "You want to talk about it?"

"Once upon a time, shit happened."

"All right, well once upon a time my bike got wrapped around a garden wall after someone rammed me. I lost out on my fighting career before it even started, maybe even a shot in the Olympics, and no one can prove it wasn't my fault. Your turn."

"I didn't agree to that."

"To fucking bad."

"Fine, ask Nikos about growing up around here; about the woods to the west of here."

"Why?"

"Because a monster used to live there." Mercury pealed her arms off of him, letting him turn to look her in the eye. "I killed it."

"That's a good thing, right?"

"I thought so. But don't trust me." His footsteps already leading away from her, from the warmth the burned away so continuously.

"Where are you going?"

He was already halfway down the drive before she dared ask, and he in turn didn't dare to turn around. "Just a walk. Let it go, Xiao Long."

Let me go.

VAV

V

Been a bit busy, working on a background check and fighting a cold, that the two-parter never got its second part posted online. Sorry.  
This chapter doesn't quite fit right, and that's entirely because it got wedged into the outline after a dream. I still like it, even if it doesn't entirely make sense, because I am more than a little enamored by the idea of two idiots who are too stubborn/tough for their own good, enjoying the fluffier sides of a relationship. So I hope you enjoy this odd bit of fluff, and feel free to comment.


	9. Pick Carefully

\- - -9- - -

Pick Carefully

VAV

V

"She's too good for you."

"Well, geez, thanks for that Em."

"Like you weren't thinking it."

"You don't even know who the girl is."

"Because it's oh-so hard to guess from the four people you talk to. Blonde chick with the metal arm and often carry a sword around campus, not really a stretch to say you're dating your good clone."

"We're not dating."

"Can you two just focus." Cinder said, her tone snapping both of their mouthes shut. "Emerald, draw or fold?"

With an eight showing, the odds weren't terrible for her face down card. "Draw."

Cinder passed her a 3 and the matter could have been settled as Em's turn ended. But big sis Cindy was clearly in an odd mood. "…I'm sure there's nothing to worry about."

Mercury turned in his seat at that. "The fact that you're trying to comfort me, now has me worried. I'm still not sure what about."

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"What I don't get is why you're so worried. It's winter break, I'm sure she's busy with whatever 'sane' people do this time of year. Also, you might as well fold id all you have is 16. You're not going to get less than five if you draw."

He did his own math in his head, but Emerald was better than him at Blackjack. Or any card game that was supposed to be part chance. "…Card counting's illegal." Mercury's turn as dealer coming with Emerald's ninth straight victory . He made a point of shuffling the deck in a nice random wash while promising to himself he'd get back at her later. "I'm not worried. Just grumpy the gym is closed and horny as hell."

Both woman gave him murderous glares as he dealt out the cards. Leaving him torn between gloating and using the table as a shield. Hindsight later would tell him this was the moment he ate his first foot.

"What?" He should have just shut up there, with what was a mildly insensitive, yet overall fairly normal complaint for a person his age. But he didn't.

V

A boring day had turned sour quickly, and left him the knowledge that nothing he said would make it any better. Maybe it was better to get the bad over with he thought. Already reaching for his phone with no doubt in his mind he must have screwed up there as well. [Hey, need a favor.]

Anxious seconds turned into minutes as his phone stayed silent. It was stupid, and he should have known better. If Yang wanted to talk to him, she would. She wasn't one to hold her tongue, that's one of the reasons he liked her. A flimsy excuse like this changed nothing.

[What?]

[Just advice.] He texted back. One word texts didn't really give tone, which made him more cautious than he liked honestly. [I think I'm supposed to apologize for something.]

[So?]

[How?]

He could already see her face-palming on the other side of the phone. Groaning and muttering about what an idiot he was. To be fair, when it came to understanding people, he didn't really argue with that. […Have you tried saying sorry?]

That sounded simple. Mercury turned around and made his way back to the common room. "Hey Cinder…"

He didn't make it into the room before the door shut in his face. Probably a result of the armchair he saw being hurled at him. That would also explain the bruised nose and dignity that had come with that crashing sound on the other side. [No good.]

[Why?]

[Cinder might have just broken school furniture trying to get at me.]

[What the hell did you do?]

[Talk?]

[You really should know better than that by now.]

[Maybe some lessons still needed to beat in.] He meant it as a joke, obviously. The whole thing with her sister was over a month old, and they had ended on a good note in that regards as least. Hell, even that last night of the competition they had ended up back on the couch together against both their own misgivings. But as the minutes stretched on without Yang's response he was left to wonder what had gone wrong. He already knew Em was right, she was too good for him. Didn't change his blind hope of stretching out a lucky break a little longer. A prospect that seemed less likely the longer it took for her to respond, no matter the number of logical reasons she might have for a delay. At least one person had told him people actually used holidays to talk to family, odd as it sounded.

When his phone buzzed, Mercury was already sitting on the hall floor. No clear answers in sight and mind wandering to a different time entirely . He didn't want to look back, not really.

[I didn't ask Pyrrha about the woods.]

Oh Shit.

[Ruby was telling stories about the semester and your name came up. My uncle's a detective, took me aside later to ask about you. His name's Qrow Branwen, he didn't say much, but I got the impression you two know each other.]

[Yeah, you could say that.]

VAV

There's nothing quite like sitting on a curb. Hard cement, coarse surface, and so low most of your body tells you it might as well be sitting on the ground while your mind pointedly disagrees. Somewhere between the lowest levels of dignity and none at all. Mercury liked to think he still had some dignity, and the guy standing over him said he had none at all.

"How the hell did you screw up a job as simple as this?"

Mercury looked up at the tall, lean copper and had to double check himself. The man was without a doubt the most slovenly dressed cop he had even seen, the slicked back mop of hair and bad shave would look more at home on a stripper the real thing. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you do. You don't think you're the only kid to have tried pulling the fire alarm so he can nab something."

"I didn't pull any alarm."

"Yeah, you did. You just didn't know me and my partner had just walked in. Rookie mistake, but you're young. It takes a few a years to know how to really scope out a shop."

"Can I go now?"

"Depends. Empty your pockets kid."

"Why?"

"Because depending on what you grabbed, I might manage to convince the owner to not press charges."

Talk about a rock and a hard place. If it had just been the pretty-girl partner, Mercury was positive he wouldn't have been caught. He was good enough to guarantee that. But this asshole wasn't a normal cop. His eyes had been in all the wrong places for a fire alarm. Like he had done the drill himself. Mercury wouldn't even mind juvie, from every thing he had heard, it would be almost comfortable. Just as long as his dad never found him after he got out.

"Fine." Reluctance weighing him down as he brought his hands out of his pockets. The prize of two protein bars relinquished with every once of hatred he could muster right now.

"What? No cigs, no candy?"

"Lay off."

"What's your name kid?"

"…Mercury."

"Full name."

"It's Mercury Black."

For most people that name meant nothing. Not like some teen was going to get famous living in the woods of Nowhere, England. But if his uniform wasn't clue enough, the way the cop's eyes darkened at his name made it clear that this guy wasn't most people. He knew about the darker parts of the world people pretended died out with the previous generation. "So, that old bastard had a kid."

"Looks that way."

Silence gathered between them as the copper stared at him. Mercury responded with his own glare, full of all the anger that had gathered in his short life. It did nothing. Whatever the cop was thinking about was too thick of a fog to let a simple staring contest unsettle him.

"What time does to expect you back?"

"What?"

"Your old man, I'm guessing he doesn't let you wander long."

"Still got half hour, why?"

"See my partner over there talking to the shop owner? Head over to them and give the man back his protein bars. Tell him you forgot to pay or whatever and if you can fake a little sincerity she'll make sure there's no charges. Knowing your dad's reputation, neither of us want him suspecting a paper trail that leads back his way."

"What are you pulling?"

The cop was already walking away at this point, clearly not happy to stop. "Me and my sister, we used to go for the trail mix." Mercury wasn't convinced one way or the other by that, but the constable didn't leave him time to respond anyway. "Look, your dad's a bastard. Does the nastiest work for criminals straight out of the movies. Probably taught you to hate me no matter what. Maybe I just want to stick one in his eyes."

"By getting me out of a shoplifting charge."

"By telling you to cut losses this time. Now go."

Mercury pulled himself up from the hard curbside, eyes following the constable as the man made himself scarce. He didn't like the guy, but he was right. Marcus Black had always made it clear what would happen if the law had a trail back to him. Walking over to the significantly shorter PC and beady eyed shop owner, his face contorted to look as innocent as possible as he lied through his teeth and made his case.

Just like Branwen had said, his partner immediately took his side. Resting her arm on his shoulders in a way that made him eager to just bolt, and assuring the owner it was better to not bring any charges against him. All because, "You look like a good kid." He suspected she didn't know what that name meant, after all.

He knew better.

"Come on, we'll give you a lift home. Don't give me that look. We can drop you off a block or two a way, your parents won't need to know what happened."

Mercury didn't move at first, partly out of stubbornness, partly at the reminder that it was parent in the singular. Then the woman put some muscle into her arm. Leaving him startled at the strength of the slim, petite woman guiding him towards the cop car.

"You're as stubborn as my daughters." She said, showing no strain as she dragged the young teen. "Qrow keeps a stash of trail bars in the back seat you can snag. Growing boys shouldn't be this thin."

The car door opened only to hit him in the shin. Conditioned as they were, it wasn't that painful. No more than training would tomorrow. That didn't stop him from mumbling a curse or two as he dropped into the seat. Clearly this lady wasn't expecting him to have clean language, not even a flinch.

"Sorry! Sorry, did I hit you?"

"Its fine." He mumbled back.

"So, what's you name kid?"

"…Mercury."

"Now that's a nice name. You should have heard some of the crazy ones my husband came up with when I was pregnant." The young woman cast her eyes about a couple times before leaning in conspiratorially. "Qrow keeps his snacks in the hat behind the head rest there. Grab a handful, he buys in bulk anyways."

"…Thanks."

"Don't mention it!"

VAV

[Yeah, I know Branwen.]

[When I get back, we should talk.]

Mercury debated tossing his phone then and there. Anything Branwen had told her about him was bound to not be good. Instead he found his own hand betraying him. [Yeah.] Which deserved him bashing his head against the wall a couple times for good measure at least. Maybe he should just let Cinder land a hit with the next chair.

VAV

V

The first break, of Mercury goading Cinder into anger was originally written out, the idea being that he makes most people angry just by talking. However it rambled and didn't seem to work cleanly, which is why I switched to the jump cut. My a few drafts down the line I can work in something suitably jerk-ish to at least give a better idea of why Cinder is trying to kill him. Give her a chance for character development.

Also fun: meet the parents flashback. Or step-parent and uncle. This seems a little more contrived than I'd like, but Midsomer County isn't supposed to have a large constabulary. Plus, neither Summer or Qrow are known for slacking off on the job, and both have a soft spot for children, so by that logic it should be fine.


	10. Non-Contractual Agreement

\- - -10- - -

Non-Contractual Agreement

VAV

V

Well, this is awkward.

Yang had caught him in a lecture, sitting down next to him with barely a word and nothing to tell him just how screwed he was because of this. Even if he couldn't help stealing glances at her as she listened to the lecture. He knew from idle chatter with her and the other fencers, especially snowflake, her grades weren't the best. Whatever the reason, it wasn't because of her ability to focus.

He knew this was supposed to be a moment for some crass joke. There were a couple he could use if he really felt like it. Instead he just kept his eyes on her.

Even here, she seemed a hundred percent committed to a lecture about globalization in labor forces. A topic he knew had nothing to do with her major. Her eyes were nonetheless focused on the board so hard it seemed to keep her leaned forward in her chair. That didn't nothing to stop her from tilting back the chair, balancing against the table with her knees in a way she made look so natural he was annoyed he couldn't describe it better. Especially compared to his own kicked back lecture position, Yang seemed at home here in a classroom. So much so, her mouth hung open in an absent minded concentration. The same expression she used when enraptured by a fight or hearing one of Blake's stories. One he absolutely loved.

It also did nothing to help his concentration. He hadn't been able to focus on the lecture since she first snuck in. Whispering if they could talk afterwards, with her face too comfortably close to his without comfort. All he did was nod and try not to stare at plump lips he would never admit to missing while over break.

As books closed around him, Mercury shut his old laptop and waited for Yang to finish her socializing. Because of course she knew three different member of the class, leaving him to stand there in her shadow and try as always to keep his heart rate slow. "Can we still talk?" She asked, all he did was give her a silent 'after you' gesture.

None of his own concerns alleviated in the slightest as she seemed to lead him away from other people. Isolating them at first around the corner of the building and then second guessing herself, brought them around to the little garden out on the side. The ice covered plants seemed like an early fitting place for all this. The fact that it also would make a good spot for a mugging or an assassination was not lost on him.

"Do you want to sit down?" Yang asked.

"No." He wanted to stay standing in case he needed to make a break for it.

"So, um… you said you knew my uncle. Want to talk about that?" Yang had her arms folded against her chest. Rubbing her hands against her arms as if she ever even noticed the cold as if she wasn't known as a living space heater by all of her numerous friends.

"No."

"That's fine really…"

"Constable Branwen used to patrol the village where I grew up. I don't know what kind of stories he told you…"

"He didn't…"

"…But all IO know is that as a kid he and his partner always seemed to show when my life was proving itself worse than usual. First time I broke my wrist, they showed up to see me at surgery. Dad forgets to buy food with his beer and there they are. Incident at school where a teacher tries to blame for a drug spree, and they turn up. Hell, even the day I lost… yeah, D.S. Branwen's first case. Lucky us. Felt like the guy was some Cŵn Annwn waiting to see me dead in the back of an ambulance. So whatever he had to say, I don't really want to hear it."

Yang was silent, rarely a good sign at any time. At least this time he had an idea why. Or thought he did at any rate. "…You knew my mum."

"Huh?"

"His partner, Rose."

There was a certain vulnerability there for both of them. Both of them were comfortable enough taking risks when it came to pain and physical harm. Their missing limbs and scars stood testament to that; but his rant and her quiet response was an opening in guards they had spent years drilling. The kind neither were ready to layer more scars onto. All they needed was the first twitch and things could change, better or worse, only if they were willing to open the guard. Just a little thing, as simple as matching stares.

Instead they simply stood there, letting whatever stretched between them balance on traded looks and postures tensed against old heartbreaks.

"Ah…"

"Yeah…"

Mercury was smart enough not to make any of the follow-up comments that popped into his head. 'Your mom was super hot' and 'you look nothing like her' alone were bad enough. Taken together, she'd probably rip his head off. Others invaded his mind like that nagging thought he had been putting off about the way her sister reminded him of some old memories. The way she always seemed so protective of her friends and family, even when acknowledging the fact that her little sister was more of the shooting star. Even the nagging news article he always had pretended to not have seen about a local constables posthumous promotion to inspector. He did have to say something though, Yang mind was already burying itself in the past. Too much silence and she would bolt. "She was… nice."

"Yeah, yeah she was." A weight lifted a little off her shoulder as a silent agreement passed between them to leave Rose's story untouched for now. "Look…"

"What?"

"I think… I thought a lot about this over break, and I think we should put a hold on any of our other rendezvous."

"Why?"

"Last semester of college, I need to focus on school and projects. I don't want to stop being friends, I just can't let that be distracting me. You understand?"

He did, really. College sucked for people like them. Not because of atmosphere or difficulty, those were different issues. For them it was more a matter of intent. Because the cause was so far from the effect, it never really felt like their were ever moving towards their goals, never felt like they were really working.

Relationships, of any sort, were by nature a major influence of either positive or negative nature. With academics, from what he had seen in others, friends were usually a minus. Making it as physical as they had was almost certainly a minus unless both parties were one of those hopeless romantics who believed they could it all they way, or if they kept an emotional distance.

Yang burned too hot for that. He should have known that the first night they fought and let the fighting turn into something more intimate. So yeah, he did understand her. What he didn't understand was the tenseness in his abdomen or maybe the serum. Whatever it was that made it so hard for him to breath as he forced out the words. "Yeah, of course."

She seemed a little surprised by how easy it was all ending. A simple contract ceased due to changes in terms accepted by all involved parties. Not that he could blame her. Words were simple, but this wasn't. "…Cool, yeah."

He didn't say anything in reply. His eyes focusing everywhere but her. It didn't help the force trying to crack his ribs.

"So…"

Mercury turned his shoulders, suggesting for both their sakes that they could part now on equal terms. If only Yang was willing to take an easy out for once in her life.

"Are you heading to dinner after this? We could walk together." Her voice had more of that hesitation that she had started this with. Mercury didn't like it. The Yang he knew was confident, had strength in everything she did.

Well, not always.

You know what? "Sure."

This was definitely one more fuck it plan.

VAV

V

First thing first, a Cŵn Annwn is a Welsh mythical beast also known as a Black Dog. For us Harry Potter fans, they can also be known as a Grim. I figured the Welsh name was more precise, and having a more Welsh vocabulary seemed like a way to highlight Mercury and Yang's country roots. Also, yeah Mercury, Yang's the only one with emotional distance. We totally believe you.

This chapter took ages due to a number of reasons. 70 hour work weeks, lack of internet, signing up for an MBA program that's starting next Monday, and the annoying parts where the story hit a little too close to home. Which is also why I'm content with this being another short chapter. The next chapter already shaping up to make up for that error while also benefiting from being less damned depressing.

Hope you all enjoy, and please comment. I need to get back into writing-shape after all.


	11. Forced Pleasantry & First Meetings

\- - -11- - -

Forced Pleasantry & First Meetings

VAV

V

Mercury still wasn't sure what to think about their relationship these days. Or more accurately, the pointed lack of one. They were still friends. Yang loved people with a ferocity that bewildered him ever when he was the one benefiting from it. But now there was an almost enforced rule between them, because no matter what, when they were together, there could be no silence. He didn't even know why.

The first time he even noticed it was when the two of them had been kicked out of the classroom that epee was training in. An opportunity for their teammates to come up with a handicap for them in their next bout. He already knew his would be something to hobble his aggressiveness. Small target areas were their usual preference, though maybe today they would just make things complicated to try and trip him up mentally. Yang's would be more complicated, probably to try and make her do some sort of combination and make her fight less off instincts and with more rationale. A solid plan, but a difficult path given how instinctive much of this was for them. Again, neither of them were worried about the bout, and if it had been a couple weeks ago they'd probably be not-quite flirting as they waited. As it was, they could have just as easily watch Weiss and Blake's foil bout without saying anything at all.

"Are you doing a senior project?"

Mercury was confident his exterior didn't show his own surprise at the question, even if that cost him a notable pause before responding. "They don't require it for business majors, but I'm working on one as a failsafe anyways. In case my last 400 falls out."

"Anything interesting?"

"Eh, I'm proposing a concept for corporations to run an internal blockchain currency system to increase accuracy on their accounting records."

"Weird."

"A little, but it's not entirely without precedent. I just thought it'd be funny to watch suits figure out they can't cook books with this. You?"

"Education department makes us as part of experiential class work. I think it's to make sure we don't slack off when volunteering at the schools off campus."

"Makes sense. What'd you end up with?"

Yang hesitated in answering. Almost making Mercury smirk as he realized she had forgotten the cardinal rule when it came to senior projects: fair trade information. Given who he was talking to though, and especially their last private conversation, he repressed his asshole nature and turned away from the foil match and Weiss' textbook lunge. Looking at Yang's own carefully maintained neutral mask as she finally answered.

"It's complicated, but the working title is 'Let Them Stand on Their Own One Foot'."

She looked towards him, eyes tired already from the semester's workload and wide enough that she could spot any reaction he might have. Clearly, she wasn't expecting his eyes to already be there. Stare locking for just a second, all too piercing for a safe response and worse, all too comfortable.

"Sounds like a poorly balanced outline." Leave it to him to break up the stare with an insult.

"Yeah, well, you could say the paper's In-toe-reduction embodied collisions." Leave it to her to break it with puns. Bad puns.

Turning away, they managed 5 whole seconds of more awkward silence before Mercury started to say, "What do you think our handicaps for this…"

Only to be interrupted by Ruby yelling "We're ready!"

And for him to finish his sentence with "…Thank Oum." Instead of whatever BS filler he might have come up with instead.

VAV

V

Yang and Weiss were surprised when they looked in on the study room and saw it empty. The ones by the dining hall were almost always full to the point of having campus cops called on the impromptu party or dead empty. And today they appeared dead empty, so bonus points for that.

Stealing the table in the back corner, Weiss started pulling out the books they needed for the homework while Yang started rearranging the furniture a little to make the work easier. The table had to get pulled out a little so it stopped blocking the floor vent. Weiss' chair was too far away, she didn't even have a chair. Minor details all around really.

Turning to steal the one that had been placed in from of the couch she found it occupied. Holding a book-bag and the cumbersome assortment of cables that lead to the couches sprawled-out occupants. To be fair on her and Weiss, neither of them could be seen from the entrance. That didn't make it any easier finding Mercury on his laptop suddenly right next to her, eyes fixed on some excel spreadsheet and ears plugged in to his headphones. Or for that matter to see the scarlet eyes of his friend, laying opposite to him on the couch with their legs pointedly not touching, fixed unflinchingly on her with what Nora might charitably call another resting-murder face. Though what muscles were at rest this time, Yang could not say even if she were feeling charitable.

Moving to grab one of the other chairs in the room, she did her best to break the friend's stare. "Hi I'm Yang. Guessing your Emerald, Mercury's mentioned you quite a bit."

Emerald took her time slowly pulling off her own headphones, sharing a look with Mercury that made him turn to look at her. Probably only caught a glance of her legs but it was enough for him to turn back and give her a somber shake of his head. Yang decided to back up his decision with a smile, which proved the wrong decision.

"Well, if we're being polite, the name's Emerald Sustrai. I believe your name is Yang Xiao Long."

"That's right."

"I think I know your dad, runs that gym out in Patch."

"Oh, you a boxer?"

"No, but I kept tabs on him after he moved to the new job."

Yang couldn't help herself, fist clenching as she leaned in a little. Giving her a rather upside down few when Mercury smirked with the inevitable fall out about to happen. Silently mouthing 'told you so' and putting his hands up to make it clear he wouldn't be intervening. On either of their behalf for all she knew. "You know between teaching one honor student how to use a Swiss army knife's can-opener, and finding out another is keeping tabs on a retired copper, I'm really starting to question how smart college students are."

"Smart enough to make it clear I don't like you without telling you why."

Yang's eyes narrowed and her feet started unconsciously spreading apart into a wider base of a fighting stance. Right now, anyone could see for the world Emerald was pissed at her and old instincts were telling her that it meant a fight. Even if the opponent was kicked back on a couch with a friend standing between them who would, probably, be willing to stop anything from escalating. Unless he was bored. Only thing stopping Yang from going first was that last phrase, which seemed pointedly unrelated to her dad.

"If you two are done measuring dicks, I believe we came here to study."

The tension in the air redirected itself towards Weiss, standing with arms crossed and toes tapping with unrestrained impatience at the women holding back her work. The picture of authority, were it not for her utter lack of anything that might be called imposing.

"…Mine's bigger."

Emerald's facial expressions had changed suddenly from anger to a blank slate that would have any theatre major reeling with envy. Her deadpan statement filling the room with the same level of seriousness as Weiss' best leader voice, as she met the petite authority head on. Leaving Yang and Mercury to share looks, one of bewilderment at her flatmate saying the word dick for possibly the first time ever and the other of amusement.

"Well, ahem, that's, um, very good for you. However, we, we really do need to do this assignment." Weiss tried so very hard to keep things formal. Yang knew she did, they had been friends for four years and she knew how hard it was for her to relax outside of strict social roles. Only Emerald seemed to be taking the room away at this point, and Yang didn't even know where it was going.

"Metaphorically speaking, of course." Emeralds voice somber.

"Oh, well, I see." Weiss said, trying her best to turn back to the table

"No, I don't think you do." Mercury's legs were shifted for him as Emerald stood up. Yang had to admit, she had never seen him this relaxed around someone other than herself. He even tensed when Jaune patted him on the shoulder, a guy that couldn't even scare someone if he was holding a live grenade. Instead he just flipped off Emerald and went back to his computer. Emerald moved around Yang to get to Weiss, bending over the petite woman as she continued. "Maybe I should show you."

That was her cue to start edging away from the table

"Merc." Yang whispered, "Merc." Her volume increasing until finally she just pulled off his headphones part way.

"What?"

"Is your friend hazing or flirting with Weiss?"

"Huh?"

Yang gestured rather emphatically over at Emerald who at this point was whispering in Weiss' ear and turning white cheeks into a scarlet shade that would have made Pyrrha's hair look brown in comparison.

"Oh." He said, taking a quick look at the two women with more than a little apathy to spread around. "Both."

"Let me rephrase this, do I need to punch her?"

Mercury tilted his head, clearly weighing the problem against how entertaining the ensuing fight would be to watch. "Probably not, Em just has a thing for debonair girls. Your friend is gay, right?"

"As a rainbow."

"Well, best of luck then." Clearly considering his work done as he pulled his headphones back into place.

Leaving Yang alone between a guy who she had slept with more than once, a girl who apparently was holding a grudge against her for who knows what, and her flatmate who was now grabbing said grudge holder by the collar so she could whisper whatever back. Nope, nope, she did not need to think about whatever it was those two were whispering between them. She was single and utterly focused on finishing out her bachelor strong.

"Come on, we're going for snacks." She said, slapping Mercury in the shoulder.

"Why?"

"Because if we stay Weiss will have some excuse for not actually making a move, Because I don't want to see my adopted sister making out, and I'm betting you can say something similar."

"Eh, wouldn't be the first time." Course even as he was saying that, he was already closing his laptop and swinging himself over the couch back. Never losing that primal drive that made him always seem so deadly, even after he looked half asleep just a minute before. "This is usually when I start making animal noises to piss her off."

"Moo?" Yang said, her idle curiosity working ahead of the rational part of her mind. The part which still needed to do the homework that had brought them here.

Emerald's aim was poor, which given the size of the book thrown was luck. Mercury smiling over at Yang as the two of them ducked instinctively. "Yeah, just like that."

Yang reached the door first, opening it only for Mercury to wave her through. She never did understand why he never liked other people helping him, even something like holding doors open. Clearly it made sense in his own head though. Even when she shut the door on him and held it, throwing a raspberry in his direction, all he did was smirk. Dodging the second book, this time by Weiss oddly enough, he braced one foot against the frame and hauled both the door and Yang open. "Nice try." He said as Yang sprawled back into the room, giving them a second to fight for the door once more even as something was loaded up in the background by the unamused friends.

The third book actually hit.

VAV

V

Hey, I'm not dead. I am extremely busy (I should be working on a midterm for one of my graduate classes right now), but I wanted to get this out there. Not one of my better chapters, in part because it was supposed to be a three-part of short clips to establish time passage of the presently single main characters. Along with the ever-present question in any school story: when do they do homework? The third part however deserved a chapter of its own, furthermore I would really like to do something else with the Midsomer University Series. Unfortunately, running three plots concurrently is a lot more difficult than one plot-free piece of fluff that I started this all with.

So, I do hope you enjoy, and I'll be honest this is not me getting out of hiatus. Work, graduate school, and applying for (career) jobs are top priorities on this side. But I am not going to abandon PC&S or my Midsomer crowd. Because gosh-darnit, I didn't start this story to not get a strong happy ending. I'm taking it up with the writer otherwise.


	12. Could You?

\- - -12- - -

Could You?

VAV

V

February came around and Blake had suggested an impromptu movie night later that day. It had been a general email to the whole fencing club, and given he was still not sure where he stood with Yang, Mercury had every intention of just leaving the message untouched. Then Emerald had pushed past him and interrogated him until he finally admitted that Weiss would probably be there. He wouldn't know though since the RWBY flat was hosting, she hardly needed to RSVP over email.

An argument that he had very carefully crafted while they had been hanging out in their room. His room, he had to remind even himself sometimes despite the added presence of a roommate who lit half the room by fairy lights and made the room smell of some fancy soap, as it was in the guys hall and she was just a guest. Then Weiss had to ruin his perfectly good plan for a Donnie Yen marathon night with a memo, because simply emailing 'sure' would have been to plebeian, stating she would be happy to attend this event.

"We're going."

"Em, why do you even care, it's not like you need to have some excuse to hang out with her."

"Shut up, your just pissed I'm making you spend time with Yang."

"I'm not pissed about that, you're the one who threatened her, not me. I'm pissed that someone else is going to be picking the movie. I had plans."

"Your plans suck, it was literally just watch movies and work out."

"I also budgeted for snacks this time. Yes indeed, high-class planning, that's me." Mercury said.

"Come on, we're going."

He almost said no, not like he had any reason yet, but Emerald's expression had hardened. People gave him grief because he was some emotionless monster, Mercury however had learned long ago that it was the emotional who were the real scary ones. 'Demon's run when a good man goes to war' and all that. He knew where he stood on that side of the equation. "Fine, but I'm going to bitch about it constantly."

"You bitch about everything."

"Its part of my charm. And you still don't need me to go to some movie night to hang out with the ghost girl."

"Her name's Weiss, and…" Emerald's voice turning into a frustrated mumble.

"What was that?"

"We didn't share numbers, ok. And she doesn't go to the dining hall, our schedules never meet even though we're both theoretically the same major. I don't even know how that's possible, I even skipped lunch Tuesday so I could try and run into her. I'm starting to think she really is a ghost"

"And you didn't even think to ask me."

"You can't even remember your teammates name, why would I ever ask you for their phone numbers?"

"Yeah, fair."

Mercury was slow to drop his feet from the desk, every intention of beginning the bitching here and now by showing up late to this movie night. Em had other plans, grabbing him by the collar and twisting so that he stumbled forward after her. Both of them knowing she was one of the only person in the world who could get away with this.

The other person, a problem for another day.

VAV

"Weiss! What's this about you and Mercury's friend."

Ruby was always the eager one, and even the tiniest tidbit Yang had fed her and Blake left Weiss in the perilous position of being gossip central right now. Her best friend pulling a chair over so that she could lean closely into Weiss' eyes as if the answer was tucked into her eyebrows. As the only witness to their encounter, Yang only turned a little so she could give Weiss a lascivious wink. The true indicator however was that Blake looked up from her current weighty tome, which was probably a school book, probably. English majors were weird, even when muted by the usual insanity of a poli.-sci. double major.

"I… may have met a young lady."

"Is she pretty? How did you meet, Yang didn't say? Do you have any plans for a date? Ooh, is that what your doing on your phone? Are you texting her?"

"She's certainly attractive. However, we may not have gotten… that far into the conversation. There were distractions." Weiss said.

"Tongues get in the way of speaking."

"Thank you Yang, I meant more along the lines of someone stealing our books."

"Book, singular. And you didn't seem to mind at the time."

"Ahem, well, never the less. I don't think anything will come of it. I'm much too busy at the moment to worry about dates or texting her."

"Ohhh." Ruby pressed her hand to her face, clearly horrified by her realization. "You forgot to ask for her number."

"I wouldn't say I forgot, I..."

"Course you wouldn't." Blake said.

"Who knows, maybe you'll run into her around campus." Yang's focus returning to the stove

"I don't think that's going to happen. I imagine if I haven't run into her elsewhere already, it's probably a non-issue."

Blake set down her book, carefully making sure her bookmark was secure as she checked the time. "Weiss, you do realize most seniors don't take morning classes. Or hide away in the library every day from 2-4. And night activities are restricted to our flat, the club, or the music department's practice room."

"Of course."

"Where exactly were you planning to meet her?"

"…She might be musically inclined."

"Says the opera singer."

Leaving Weiss to puzzle over her dilemma, the rest turned in response to the knocks at the door. Ruby was fastest on the ball, to no ones surprise, and was also the one to trip on the chair she sitting in. Also unsurprising. As Yang checked on her sister, Blake called out they were coming. Making a point to carefully stand and walk to the door, instead of the Xiao-long-Rose style of sprinting and tumbling. Weiss, was left to furrow her brow, bent into her textbook as if she was focusing on her organization theory class instead of her romance issues.

"Hi Mercury, whose your friend?" The words drifting through the hallway in Blakes usual calm, clear manner.

"This is Emerald, guess you can call her my roommate." Almost as if you could hear his shrug of indifference.

Mercury's words broke the furrow quickly. Weiss standing up while simultaneously trying to smooth her dress, check her hair, straighten her collar, and also make sure the table was clear. Unlike Ruby, this sprint for the door at least made it to the kitchen threshold. Just in time to land at the guests feet.

"I swear we usually don't have people falling left and right here, don't know what's with today."

"I'm sure its fine." Emerald kneeling to take Weiss' hand as their eyes locked. "It seems only natural for a lady to find other bending their knee to them."

Even prone on the floor, Weiss managed to have a poise that must have take years of experience because it lacked Yang's inherent flirtation or Blake's cat-like poise. "I was always taught that a lady has no need for others to bend there need, their strength should be unquestioned. But I can certainly thank you for this."

Pulling herself up with the proffered hand instead brought the unsteady and enraptured Emerald to the ground. Both parties quickly turning away with scarlet faces at the awkwardness as Blake rolled her eyes and stepped over the two corpses. Guiding her other guest in the process as the hallway tried its best to put itself back together.

"Two kittens playing toms." Mercury muttered to himself, stepping past the two to make his way to the pointedly less dramatic sisters. "Any way I can just ignore all this?" Waving his hand to make it clear he sought refuge from more than just his best friends romantic success. It wasn't jealousy, he really hoped Em would have at least something to help move past the whole Cinder issue. Didn't make the impending crowd or his own recent failure any easier, especially given who he was talking to right now.

"If you can move the furniture for us in the living room, Ruby's going to grab the blankets and stuff. She'll tell you where to put stuff while I finish cooking."

"Perfect."

"Current vote is 'The Martian'. Any votes against?"

"Naw, sounds good enough."

"No fight-scene analysis, but it's funny, I promise."

"…You remembered." His head tilting in curiosity, but he was already heading away from her. Like it would be easier if she didn't care.

VAV

"I'm not gonna die here." The man looked like a man half-starved, half-bled, eyes sunk with exhaustion. Wrapped up in the blank Mark Watney seemed so small. One man against a planet.

VAV

"I could never do that."

Yang looked over at him, and Mercury had a moment to realize he had said those words out loud. He didn't know what he looked like in the room, but he could imagine it was pretty grim. Hard to imagine anything else. Cast in the blue from the projector's wash, everything became shadows, and he could only imagine how it would hide his eyes, hide whatever little part of himself might imply comfort. Highlight the twitch of his face that was so sad it brought this moment into life.

"Do what?" She said. It was the obvious question. And he wanted to lie, but there was so little for him to choose from. Mark Watney hadn't done anything else for him to talk about. The scene had built up perfectly the pain laid out before the character with no tests or challenges, just grim pictures and cold realities. All leading up to his one line. 'I'm not going to die here.'

So lying was out of the question. Which ruined about half the plans he ever came up with. Then there was the worst part. He didn't want to lie. He wanted to talk about it. Talk about the weakness that he could see so clearly in himself, because it hurt just thinking about. Every other problem was so simple for him to train his way out of, to the point he sometimes wondered if he enforced his left-handed handicap for fencing so that he couldn't succeed. But this was a different issue, one that was so central to him he couldn't remember the days it wasn't true.

"I could never say that."

Yang took a couple seconds to respond, and he risked his own glance at her. Stupid, stupid Merc. The same light that made him grim, lit her up. She wasn't the die-hard athlete right now, she was a young woman in baggy, casual clothes who looked like she would be comfortable to hold tight against himself. Remind him that his statement could be wrong; maybe not today, but someday. Letting her mane of rich blonde hair fall between them, her eyes focused on the screen and he didn't know if it was in concentration at his words or the movie. He could hardly fault the latter, it was already one of the most hilarious ones he had watched in a long time.

"You would fight it." She said, "You always fight it. Nerve pain in the leg, you went a whole class without a wince. I only know about the bad connection because you told me about it. None of us expected you to last a semester fighting lefty and here you are, wearing out our handful of left handed swords still."

"Yeah."

They left it at that for a while. Both of them stealing a glance over at their friends on the other side of the room. Em and Weiss were clearly the hot gossip of the night. This late in people college careers, the attendees were either engaged in all but jewelry or content to wait. But the two acquaintances had coincidentally ended up next to each other. Possibly in relation to Weiss' belabored effort to fit twenty or so young adults into a college living room; or possibly thanks to Em's excessively polite insistence that, since she wasn't invited, she would just squeeze in where she could. Which happened to be next to the room's thinnest occupant.

But Mercury wasn't going to fall for that seating nonsense. His spot ending up in the hallway. A clear escape route, room to stretch out his legs as long as everyone else walked over them, and a floor that was only slightly uncomfortable, but better than concrete. It was a genuine confidence in his case, Yang's more motherly tendencies that had stuck her near the door where she could best access the doors and kitchen. And though head heights maybe different between a couch and the floor, his words didn't have far to travel from where his head leaned slack against that couch near her elbow.

"No."

"What?"

"I don't alway fight it." He had Yang's attention now and he didn't even know what he was saying. The words coming out in self-loathing dribbles whenever his chin slackened from the mental exhaustion of holding this all in. "All I want is to not have to fight it. But I can't. Every person I meet I'll go against, every situation that seems hopeless I'lll stand as strong as I can, every time I'm told it's impossible I'll laugh and go the mile to prove them wrong."

"Like I said, stubborn to the core."

"I try to be. But I only ever learned how to play a losing hand. Endgame I got in spades. And there were times when I could go beyond that, but only when I was ready to sacrifice it all. I never learned how to take the next step."

"Yeah, but if you were out there on Mars, you'd be the guy spiteful enough to grow a farm just to colonize mars and not die."

"Sure, if I understood any of the botany stuff, I'd buy that. But I would never have thought that far ahead. Getting the camera-robot thing, plotting all this out with the eggheads and the crew. No, I'd never be able to get that far. Just make my peace and be done with it. Not the first time I had to admit it was impossible, might as well be the last."

He didn't know what he wanted Yang to say to that. He never did. As long as she heard and understood, he honestly didn't care if she said nothing. Even if they had agreed to stay a little more distant, it didn't change the distance he wanted to have anyways.

"I'm sorry." She said.

He gave a quiet grunt. Sorry was the kind of word he wanted out of his vocabulary, and here she was saying it so easily and heartfelt. "Don't be. It's just easier when I don't think in those terms."

VAV

The movie over, the snacks all eaten, the hour too late; If they weren't all living in easy walking distance, they'd probably have been invited to stay over. As it was, Mercury wouldn't have accepted even if it was suggested. Though he probably should have done something as Emerald's sole wingman to make it an option for her. But this was him, he waved his goodbyes wordlessly and then hung around as Emerald did the polite chatter to tell everyone goodnight. Somehow making her lingering hand with Weiss seem natural and unworthy of note. Maybe not intimate, but it had a promised future in a few fingers that he couldn't stop glancing at.

It wasn't good to be jealous of friends, he reminded himself. That path only led to more pain.

With people moving towards the door, and him now unfortunately caught on the wrong side of the pack, he found himself looking into the kitchen. With Weiss and Ruby on the door-host-duty, Blake and Yang were tackling the mess. The silence in their work might have been comfortable for them, but it felt stifling. Like he was invading something unnatural. Like it had at the Nikos household.

Finally; as yet another group started to leave, Emerald seemed no closer to leaving herself, and he had positive visual confirmation that the backdoor was too blocked for an exit without arousing suspicion from Blake steely eyes; he gave up. "What about you?"

Blake was the first person to notice what he had said, but she took one glance at Yang and decided to remain silent. Politely pretending to not hear in a way that made her far more endearing than he ever expected from one of Yang's crowd. And that was after a largely successful semester of already knowing each other.

"About what?"

"Would you be able to do it?"

Yang looked up from the dishes she was quietly cleaning, Handing off one set of clean pots to Blake, as her friend traded with more dirty dishes from the living room. Her eyes met his for a moment, but then they locked on Blake's quiet efficiency, Ruby's boundless smile, and even Weiss' awkward attempts at flirting with Emerald. They seemed to take in everything about the kitchen that seemed so odd to him. Pictures of her dad and sister, group photos of the RWBY flat's college career, the little notes they had sticking everywhere reminding them of groceries and everything else under the sun. One wall had a framed sketch of an old yet cheery house and garden, signed in one corner by a stylized and neat 'B.B.'

She had a glazed look in her eye that he wasn't used to. Their time in fencing club and their, ahem, rendezvous had led him to have a good idea of her in most situations. He was really second guessing how large the other sides of her were. It gave her a steel so utterly unlike his. Rooted and ancient oaken lines, not spring steel and jagged edges. Maybe that was why they would never work, a voice in his head whispered.

"If my family needed me, I could do whatever the hell it took to make it back."

"Yeah," He said, and believed it. "And you call me stubborn."

VAV

V

Well it's long one if nothing else. And apparently WeissxEm is not my strong suite. Thoroughly shocked I tell you. But I really do like the idea of them playing up a lady and knight persona, and then promptly screwing it up.

I recently gave a friend access to my nom-de-plume, a rarity due to some personal moments, and they commented on how Fox was like an alternate version of me. Funny that. Perhaps because I always imagined Fox as someone who had all my sins and yet somehow kept his hope. Mercury, by contrast, never got that alteration. Only a far shittier childhood. Fox may be oblivious on occasion, Mercury is more insane than he lets on. Fox is who I want to be. Mercury is honestly closer to the truth. Which is why he has a lot less success.

For clarification, Coco and Yang are not based on real people, though occasionally they pick up quirks of mine when I'm not looking, along with occasional . And that's all I'll say on the matter.

Course because of all this, the movie is now The Martian. Not the Princess Bride, the obvious choice for a Fencing AU and a change for which I must apologize.


End file.
